Jeff Miller

December 24, 2025

Want for Christmas?

I Want to Be Like God

Jeff Miller

December 24, 2025

Want for Christmas?

Introduction:

Psalm 115:8 – Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.

Ephesians 5:1 – Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.

Hebrews 10:28 - Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.

John 8:1-11

I Want to Be Like God (John 1:14–18)

Grace without TRUTH = Not like Jesus.
Truth without GRACE = Not like Jesus.
GRACE and TRUTH = Like Jesus.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:37-00:39
Turn in your Bibles to John chapter one.
00:41-00:50
And while you're turning there, just gonna ask, we pause for a second, and I would ask that you would please pray for me to be faithful to communicate God's word.
00:51-00:58
And I will pray for you to have a heart open to receive what it is God is telling us here tonight, this passage, all right?
00:58-00:58
Let's pray.
01:01-01:02
Father, we thank you for your word.
01:04-01:20
And it's easy tonight to get so caught up in, I guess the decorations and the sentimentality and all of that, but God, this is really no different than what we normally do.
01:21-01:26
We come to worship you, come to know you, come to hear from your word.
01:27-01:32
I just ask, Father, that your spirit be at work with your word today in a profound way.
01:34-01:36
Make us into the people that you've called us to be.
01:37-01:39
We pray in Jesus' name.
01:39-01:43
And all of God's people said, amen.
01:46-01:51
You become like that which you worship.
01:53-01:54
It's a true statement.
01:55-01:57
You become like that which you worship.
01:59-02:02
You know, it's really obvious in children.
02:03-02:19
I mean, just looking back at my life, if you would have found me in the late '70s, early '80s, I would have been walking around with torn pants and a torn shirt because I was the Incredible Hulk.
02:20-02:21
Remember that show, "Leuphorigno"?
02:22-02:22
That was me.
02:23-02:23
(growls)
02:26-02:34
Oh, then you go forward just a couple of years and I would have been running around the house with a sword fighting Skeletor.
02:35-02:39
By the power of Grayskull, I was He-Man, right?
02:40-02:44
And then you go forward a few more years, early '90s.
02:46-02:47
Grunge.
02:49-02:57
Ironically, I once again had ripped pants on and the flannel shirt, the mop hair.
02:59-03:04
And you can laugh and make fun of me all you want, but I know some of you got hammer pants in your closet.
03:07-03:14
Some of you ladies back then had a Debbie Gibson haircut because you become like that what you worship.
03:18-03:20
It wasn't even my idea.
03:20-03:21
Actually, the Bible says this.
03:22-03:30
Psalm 115 verse eight says, regarding idols, says, "Those who make them become like them.
03:31-03:37
So to all who trust in them, you become like that which you worship." And then we come to church.
03:40-03:42
We come to church and the truth is still the same.
03:44-03:56
Because Ephesians 5, one says, "Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children." Like, well, how do we imitate God?
04:00-04:01
by worshiping Him.
04:01-04:02
That's how.
04:04-04:05
It starts with worshiping Him.
04:07-04:16
You're like, okay, all right, but how in the world, even worshiping Him, how can I imitate God?
04:18-04:23
And you know, I think that's one of the most awesome things about the incarnation of Jesus Christ.
04:24-04:40
What we're celebrating at Christmas, God became a man, And I think that's one of the most awesome things, one of the most glorious things, is that we get to see what God's holiness and love looks like in a human on this planet interacting with other humans.
04:41-04:44
It's not conceptual, we've seen it.
04:48-04:50
Yeah, the Christmas story, it's a familiar story, right?
04:53-04:57
You know, you got the manger and the shepherds and the light.
05:00-05:03
But that's Matthew and Luke's version.
05:04-05:12
Matthew and Luke in your Bible give the historical version, but we're looking at John this year, and John gives the theological version.
05:14-05:21
That God became something He's never been without ceasing to be what He's always been.
05:24-05:26
It's the miracle of Christmas.
05:26-05:32
God entered the world through childbirth, becoming a real human being while remaining God.
05:36-05:37
So what do you want for Christmas?
05:39-05:45
We started this series, we said, "I want to know God." The only way you can know God is through Jesus.
05:45-05:47
Jesus is the revelation of God.
05:47-05:50
He is the living word of God, right?
05:50-06:00
And on Sunday, Pastor Taylor gave a message, "I wanna belong to God." The only way you belong to God also is through Jesus Christ.
06:01-06:11
It's through Jesus, through his death and his resurrection, that our sins can be forgiven, that we can have the promise of eternal life, that we can be adopted children of God.
06:12-06:18
Tonight, I wanna be like God.
06:20-06:20
What do you want for Christmas?
06:23-06:25
Really, all I want is to be like God.
06:30-06:34
This section we're looking at talks about the glory of Jesus Christ.
06:34-06:39
Those who received him get to know how glorious our God is.
06:41-06:43
And when we worship him, we do become like him.
06:44-06:48
So look at verse 14, John chapter one.
06:49-07:04
It says, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." Mark that, grace and truth, full of grace and truth.
07:04-07:15
Verse 15, "John bore witness about Him and cried out, this was He of whom I said, He who comes after me ranks before me because He was before me.
07:17-07:28
"From his fullness, we have all received grace upon grace." I love that last phrase, grace upon grace.
07:30-07:34
It's just waves and waves and waves of grace.
07:35-07:35
That's Jesus.
07:36-07:37
He's not stingy with his grace.
07:40-07:45
And he tells us in verse 16 that we've received from his fullness.
07:47-07:49
We've received from the fullness of grace.
07:49-07:50
You know what that means?
07:52-08:01
We're always in, if you belong to Jesus, you're always in the waves and waves of his grace.
08:01-08:06
Meaning, I can't say, well, I came to Christ in 1995.
08:07-08:08
Boy, you should have seen me back then.
08:09-08:11
I really needed his grace back then.
08:13-08:16
I need his grace just as much today as I did then.
08:18-08:25
And if I live tomorrow, I'm going to need His grace just as much tomorrow as I do today and as I did then.
08:29-08:30
But that's the good news.
08:31-08:37
He says, "Grace upon grace upon grace," that if you're in Christ, you're always in it.
08:38-08:39
He just keeps on giving it to us.
08:40-08:41
On your best day, you're in His grace.
08:42-08:43
On your worst day, you're in His grace.
08:46-08:50
Look at verse 17, he says, "For the law was given through Moses.
08:50-08:58
Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." There it is again, grace and truth, grace and truth.
08:58-09:00
But the law though, he mentions the law.
09:02-09:03
The law came through Moses.
09:03-09:07
There was no grace in the law.
09:09-09:12
Like you read your old testaments, there's only judgment.
09:12-09:14
You break the law, you're guilty.
09:14-09:17
In fact, the New Testament talks about that in Hebrews chapter 10.
09:18-09:24
Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy in the evidence of two or three witnesses.
09:27-09:29
There's no mercy, just guilt.
09:30-09:31
That's what the law does.
09:31-09:32
The law kills.
09:33-09:35
The law only shows you that you are a sinner.
09:39-09:45
Yet through Jesus comes, Did you see it again?
09:46-09:46
Grace and truth.
09:48-09:54
He's showing us that there's a stark contrast to the law with what came in Jesus Christ.
09:57-09:59
Verse 18 kind of sums up the whole passage.
10:01-10:03
Really sums up everything that we're celebrating at Christmas.
10:04-10:05
Here it is.
10:05-10:07
No one has ever seen God.
10:09-10:17
The only God who was at the Father's side, "He has made him known." God the Son has made God known.
10:18-10:26
John is saying we saw everything that is God, we saw that in Jesus Christ.
10:31-10:32
So what's he like?
10:35-10:41
What has God shown us of his character in Jesus Christ?
10:42-10:43
I mean, what's he like?
10:45-10:50
Well you notice in this passage, he said it in verse 14 and he said it in verse 17.
10:51-10:57
If you were to say, "All right, describe God in two words," he does.
10:58-11:18
He says, "Here's what God is like, two words, grace and truth." Those two words exemplified who Jesus Christ is, who is the perfect expression of who God is.
11:20-11:21
Grace and truth.
11:23-11:25
I want to talk about grace and truth for a few minutes.
11:27-11:28
What is grace?
11:28-11:31
Well, grace is compassion.
11:31-11:32
It's mercy.
11:34-11:35
Grace is kindness and patience.
11:38-11:39
Grace is forgiveness.
11:41-11:42
Read your Bibles.
11:42-11:48
Jesus always manifests just a tender, loving grace.
11:51-11:54
So He's full of grace, but it also says He's full of truth.
11:55-11:56
Truth.
11:57-11:59
Jesus always spoke the truth.
12:00-12:00
Read your Bibles.
12:01-12:03
Jesus always upheld the authority of God's word.
12:07-12:09
Jesus never told half truths.
12:10-12:12
Jesus never minimized the truth.
12:12-12:15
Jesus never downplayed scripture, contradicted the Old Testament.
12:16-12:18
Jesus never sugarcoated it.
12:18-12:19
He never watered it down.
12:19-12:24
And he never, not once ever did he apologize for what the Bible says.
12:28-12:29
I wanna be like God.
12:31-12:46
And when we look at this character of Jesus, it is astounding, full of grace and truth, simultaneously full.
12:48-12:56
And we could have this temptation to just kind of step back and admire that, like, wow, isn't that awesome?
12:56-12:59
Isn't that an awesome representation of God?
12:59-13:09
But you know, and we should do that, yes, but the Bible doesn't tell us that we should just admire the character of Jesus.
13:11-13:16
The Bible tells us that Jesus' character isn't something just to impress us.
13:19-13:23
Bible says that we should imitate his character.
13:25-13:29
I mean, so many times, right, We are called to imitate Jesus.
13:30-13:35
Matthew 11, Jesus says, "Learn from me." John 13, he was washing the disciples' grimy feet.
13:36-13:54
And Jesus said, "I'm doing this to show you an example that you should do the same." Philippians 2, Paul says, "Have this mind, which is yours in Christ Jesus." 1 Peter 2.21 that Pastor Rich just read says that Jesus is an example and we should follow in his steps.
13:57-14:11
And then we turn to John 1 here, and it says, verse 16, "From his fullness, we have all received." That we don't worship a distant God.
14:13-14:19
We worship a God, according to this, who is to be received.
14:21-14:26
You see, I can stand up here, and I could talk for hours about grace and truth.
14:26-14:28
Don't worry, I know it's Christmas, I'm not going to.
14:28-14:29
But I could.
14:31-14:37
But unless you've received Jesus Christ, this isn't gonna matter.
14:38-14:48
Because the Bible tells us that when we truly receive him, God puts his spirit in us so that we are able to imitate his character.
14:51-14:53
So that we can truly be his image bearers.
14:56-15:07
So Jesus was full of grace and truth, perfectly full of both, a hundred percent grace and a hundred percent truth.
15:08-15:11
And this is the profound thing.
15:11-15:13
Jesus was never one or the other.
15:17-15:20
Never lopsided, never compromising one over the other.
15:20-15:52
one at the expense of another, John makes it clear. He says, "This is what God is like, Jesus Christ." And if there are two words that sum up the kind of God we worship, it's grace and truth. And we have to get that because if we're to worship God and therefore imitate If we're to represent God to the world, we have to imitate grace and truth as displayed by Jesus.
15:54-15:57
So you know what our problem is.
16:00-16:07
Our problem is we are not perfectly full of grace and truth.
16:07-16:15
and the reality is each of us have a tendency to lean more towards one than the other.
16:17-16:23
Some of you are more grace people, and some of you are more truth people.
16:30-16:42
And I just want to show you tonight that you can't be content to lean in one direction because that's not like Jesus at all.
16:45-16:46
Like, well, can you give me an example?
16:46-16:48
Yeah, there is an example I wanna show you.
16:48-16:52
Look at John 8, just turn over in your Bibles a few pages.
16:52-17:07
I want you to see, we're just gonna read this and reference this, but if there's one story from Jesus' life that demonstrates this full of grace and full of truth at the same time character.
17:07-17:11
If there's one story that would show that, it's this one.
17:12-17:21
John 8, it says, "They went each to his own house, "but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
17:22-17:25
"Early in the morning, He came again to the temple.
17:26-17:29
"All the people came to Him, "and He sat down and taught them.
17:29-17:35
"The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman "who had been caught in adultery.
17:36-17:42
"And placing her in the midst, they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught "in the act of adultery.
17:43-17:49
"Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.
17:49-17:57
"What do you say?" This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him.
18:00-18:03
Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.
18:06-18:21
And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." And once more, he bent down and wrote on the ground.
18:23-18:26
But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones.
18:26-18:31
And Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.
18:31-18:34
Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are they?
18:34-18:47
Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, look at this, Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you.
18:49-19:04
Go and from now on, sin no more." So, if you have an outline and you're taking notes, which we always encourage you to do, I want you to jot a couple things down here.
19:05-19:06
I want to be like God.
19:07-19:11
Number one, grace without truth is not like Jesus.
19:12-19:17
Grace without truth, that's not like Jesus.
19:21-19:25
Grace without truth is weak enabling.
19:34-19:35
Never holding people accountable.
19:37-19:39
You ignore the transformation power of the Holy Spirit.
19:39-19:56
You disregard the truth that God says in His Word that we are called to righteousness and holy living, and people who lean more towards grace care more about being liked than they care about what's right and wrong.
19:58-20:04
But I want you to see in this account in John chapter 8, Jesus wasn't just grace.
20:06-20:10
He didn't say to the woman, "I affirm you.
20:12-20:13
You do you, ma'am.
20:13-20:17
"Look, don't worry about what the Bible says.
20:18-20:29
I mean, they're quoting the law of Moses and that was a long time ago and that's not really for us." And I affirm you, ma'am, he didn't say that.
20:30-20:31
He wasn't just grace.
20:32-20:34
You see, Jesus brought truth into it.
20:34-20:40
Jesus says, "Go, and from now on sin no more." What Jesus said was, "Look, adultery dishonors God.
20:40-20:42
Hey, stop living like that, okay?
20:43-20:44
Stop living like that.
20:48-20:59
And church, when we are content to overlook sin, when we're content to avoid the hard conversations, when we're ready to affirm people in their sin, that's not like Jesus.
21:06-21:10
Right now the truth people are like, "Yeah, give it to 'em.
21:10-21:16
"Give it to the grace people." Hang on, truth people, because truth without grace is not like Jesus either.
21:21-21:22
Look, I know the truth people.
21:23-21:25
We've been around some truth people, haven't we, Aaron?
21:26-21:38
Right now the truth people are like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." How in the world could it be?
21:41-21:44
I thought Harvest Bible Chapel, I thought Bible was your middle name.
21:44-21:46
Like truth is all that matters, right?
21:47-21:49
Truth, it's truth that matters.
21:50-21:56
How in the world could you have truth without grace?
21:59-22:01
We realized in John 1:17, he told us.
22:02-22:07
Look at it again, John 1:17, "For the law was given through Moses." Do you know what that is?
22:07-22:08
Do you know what the law is?
22:10-22:12
It's truth without grace.
22:17-22:20
So let me ask you, was the law truth?
22:21-22:25
This is a shouted out verbal reply question.
22:25-22:27
Was the law truth?
22:28-22:29
Yes, it was.
22:29-22:31
It is, not was, it is.
22:32-22:34
The law is truth.
22:34-22:39
100% every letter of God's law in the Old Testament is true.
22:40-22:42
But there was no grace in the law.
22:42-22:43
We referenced this earlier.
22:43-22:45
This is how the law works.
22:46-22:47
Oh, you broke the law, you're guilty.
22:48-22:49
Now it's time for your punishment.
22:49-22:51
Next, that's how the law worked.
22:55-23:04
And truth without grace leads to cold, detached transactions with other people.
23:06-23:08
That's truth without grace.
23:08-23:09
You messed up.
23:09-23:09
You're done.
23:10-23:10
You're done.
23:14-23:15
It leads to harsh judgment.
23:18-23:20
Truth without grace leaves no room for mistakes.
23:22-23:23
There's no second chances.
23:23-23:25
There's no invitation to repent.
23:25-23:28
There's no encouragement to turn it around.
23:28-23:37
Listen, people who lean more towards truth than grace usually care more about their conviction, than they care about actual people.
23:37-23:38
And that is a problem.
23:42-23:49
But you see in this John eight account with the woman caught in adultery, do you notice Jesus wasn't just truth with her?
23:49-23:49
Do you notice that?
23:52-23:55
I mean, Jesus didn't say to the woman, they bring the woman before him.
23:55-24:00
Jesus didn't say, "Hey lady, you know what the law says.
24:00-24:18
You're guilty, there's nothing to discuss." He showed her grace when He says, "Neither do I condemn you, nor will you live differently." That's grace.
24:20-24:30
And church, when we condemn people, when we are one striking you're out, when we refuse to allow people the opportunity to change, that's not like Jesus.
24:34-24:38
So we imperfect people tend to fall on one side or the other.
24:39-24:46
So now that you've heard, I just wanna ask you just for fun, which way do you lean?
24:47-24:52
Show of hands, how many of you would say that you're more grace people?
24:52-24:54
Put your hands up if you're more of a grace person.
24:55-24:55
All right?
24:59-25:54
Now raise your hand if you're more of a truth person. I have a note written from the first service. When I asked you the truth people were they were a lot more bold to put their hands up than the grace people. I think there's something to that. That'll be a sermon for Easter. Anyways, grace people, look, I love you, but you typically care more about the relationship than any sin issue, and that's not good. And truth people, you care more about upholding God's Word than loving someone in the relationship, And that's not complete either.
25:57-26:03
And you know, I've been thinking about this a lot the last couple of weeks, while you do what you do at work, this is what I do at work.
26:04-26:09
I was thinking so much like, what is it that causes people to lean one way or the other?
26:13-26:21
And I was thinking about that like, whether you sit down with a grace person or you sit down with a truth person, either way.
26:21-26:31
But I was just thinking like, if you set them down and said, "What makes you lean in the direction that you lean?" What would they say?
26:35-26:36
And then it hit me.
26:38-26:39
Do you know what it is?
26:39-26:40
And I am sure of this.
26:43-26:44
They think they're being loving.
26:45-26:46
I mean, think about it.
26:47-26:48
You sit down with the grace person.
26:49-26:50
Why do you lean more towards grace?
26:51-26:52
because it's love.
26:52-26:56
I'm loving, that's why my heart is so full of love.
26:56-26:57
I'm so full of love.
26:57-27:03
That's why, and you can't just discard the relationship just because of something the Bible says.
27:04-27:07
I'm just so full of love, deep in my heart of heart of hearts.
27:07-27:08
I'm so full of love.
27:09-27:11
That's why I'm more of a grace person.
27:12-27:19
But then, you know, if you sat down with the truth person and said, "Why do you lean more towards the truth?" Do you know what they'd say?
27:20-27:25
It's love, because what is more loving than giving people the word of our Lord?
27:26-27:31
I mean, come on, Pastor Jeff, you're a pastor, you know this, the most loving thing you can do is tell somebody the truth, right?
27:31-27:32
So that's what I do.
27:33-27:34
I don't mince words, I tell them the truth.
27:34-27:36
That's how I show love, that's how I love them.
27:37-27:38
There's nothing more loving than that.
27:38-27:41
I'm more truth because that's the loving thing to do.
27:50-27:59
There's a huge mistake in that line of thinking, isn't there?
28:00-28:07
It's a mistake to think that grace is love, because it's not.
28:09-28:13
And it's a mistake to think that truth is love, because it's not.
28:14-28:15
You know what is love?
28:18-28:19
God is love.
28:21-28:34
And as a man, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, showed true love by being full of grace and truth both.
28:39-28:41
Well, that's number three.
28:44-28:45
What do you want for Christmas?
28:45-28:45
I want to be like God.
28:46-28:47
Well, grace and truth is like Jesus.
28:50-28:54
And see, that's the point of the story of the woman caught in adultery.
28:54-28:57
Jesus showed her grace and truth at the same time.
28:58-29:00
Grace, He forgave her.
29:00-29:03
He says, "Neither do I condemn you." That's grace.
29:03-29:04
at the same time.
29:05-29:06
Jesus said, "Your lifestyle is wrong.
29:07-29:10
"Go and sin no more." Jesus gave both.
29:10-29:20
He says, "I forgive you, now let's do better." Church, we need to learn this.
29:25-29:33
We need to be people who represent Jesus accurately, full of grace and truth.
29:33-29:46
I'm not a group of people that enable in the name of love, not a group of people who condemn in the name of upholding the Word.
29:48-29:56
We need to be a people who demonstrate acceptance and accountability at the same time.
29:58-30:12
As John Piper put it, people who say, "I love you, but this is wrong." Parents, you've got to get that with your kids.
30:15-30:19
Some of you parents need to sit down with your kids and say, "Look, I love you.
30:19-30:26
I accept you, and nothing will ever change that, but this habit you have is wrong, and you need to stop this.
30:27-30:30
and I'm going to help you stop this because I love you.
30:30-30:30
Do you see that?
30:30-30:32
That's grace and truth both.
30:34-30:38
Some of you have family or friends that are stuck in a sinful lifestyle.
30:38-30:39
Maybe it's an addiction.
30:40-30:50
Maybe they're in an unbiblical relationship regarding marriage and sexuality, and you need to sit down and say, "Look, I care about you, but what you're doing is dishonoring the Lord.
30:50-30:52
Come on, let's get on a better path here.
30:53-31:01
Let's get on track." And for some of you, maybe it's even in church, maybe it's in your small group.
31:02-31:08
Somebody flagrantly in sin and you're like, "I don't know what to do here, "I don't know how to handle them." Here's how you handle them.
31:08-31:28
You pull them aside and you sit down with them and you say, "Look, what you're doing is wrong, "but I'm going to do everything that I can "to help you get on track because I care about you so much." You see, it's grace that refuses to beat people down, but it's truth that refuses to overlook sin.
31:31-31:32
So what do you want for Christmas?
31:35-31:36
I wanna imitate God.
31:40-31:51
And the only way to imitate God, to demonstrate a love for God's word and a love for God's people, is being like Jesus.
31:54-32:03
according to the Bible is full of grace and truth.
32:05-32:16
Our worship team would make their way back up and our candle lighters would come forward.
32:19-32:28
We're going to close our service By singing to candlelight.
32:30-32:35
Why on Christmas Eve do we sing by candlelight?
32:39-32:41
Because it's pretty, right?
32:42-32:43
It's so pretty.
32:46-32:56
And it's a tradition, but this year, there's another reason that we're doing this.
32:58-33:06
This year, thank you, Ashley, this year, it's also an illustration.
33:09-33:18
In anticipation of this service, you know, I was looking at the order of service and thinking about this moment actually right now.
33:19-33:21
And I was thinking about this flame.
33:24-33:26
I thought, you know, what is that flame?
33:27-33:31
But two things perfectly.
33:33-33:41
The flame is light and heat, right?
33:44-33:46
You can see the light, you'll just have to trust me on the heat.
33:46-33:50
I mean, you can try it out if you like, but it's hot.
33:53-33:57
But you see that flame, it's not one or the other.
33:59-34:00
It's light and heat.
34:01-34:05
And it can't be one or the other.
34:05-34:10
If you're gonna have the flame, you're going to have light and heat both.
34:10-35:02
You could say it is full of both aspects, light and heat. And as we sing, I just want you to look down at that flame and recognize how perfectly full it is of both light and heat. And then as you sing, I want you to think about grace and truth. Because like the flame imitating Jesus, you are to be full both at the same time. We want to thank you for coming out and worshiping our Lord, and it is my prayer that your worship is genuine, because then your imitation of Him will also be genuine.

Small Group Discussion
Read John 1:14-18

What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Define “glory” (John 1:14). What did John actually see when he says “we have seen His glory”?
Do you tend to lean more towards “grace” or “truth” when dealing with someone’s sin? Why? What do you need to do to be “full of grace and truth” like Jesus?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Taylor Brown

December 21, 2025

Want for Christmas?

I Want to Belong to God

Taylor Brown

December 21, 2025

Want for Christmas?

Introduction:

I Want to Belong to Jesus… (John 1:4–13)

Because He gives me an UNBEATABLE HOPE. (John 1:4–5)
Because He gives me a MEANINGFUL MISSION. (John 1:6–8)

Isaiah 40:3 – A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

John 3:30 – He must increase, but I must decrease.
Because He gives me a SPOT IN HIS FAMILY THAT I CANNOT EARN. (John 1:9–13)

John 3:19–20 – And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:43-00:50
Well as you turn to John chapter one, I wanna ask you the same exact question that you just heard in the video.
00:51-00:56
I wanna ask you a question that Pastor Jeff brought to your attention last week in his message.
00:56-01:01
It's probably a question that you're tired of hearing and asking this holiday season.
01:02-01:05
What do you want for Christmas?
01:06-01:14
With Christmas being so close, you have asked and heard the answer I've answered that question many times over the past several weeks.
01:15-01:22
And the questions you've, the answers you've heard and the answers you've given include an Awala water bottle.
01:22-01:23
Isn't that popular?
01:23-01:24
Is that still popular?
01:24-01:25
I don't really know.
01:25-01:26
A red light therapy mask.
01:26-01:27
Anybody want that?
01:28-01:29
That's popular on Instagram, isn't it?
01:30-01:32
A massive Lego set.
01:32-01:34
A Nintendo Switch 2.
01:34-01:35
New AirPods.
01:36-01:41
A smart ring, which I guess is kind of like but a ring on your finger, I don't really know.
01:42-01:43
Or fancy golf clubs.
01:44-01:50
But there are many things that you want for Christmas that you cannot write down on a wish list.
01:51-01:56
There are many things you want for Christmas that cannot be bought or wrapped.
01:57-01:58
Maybe you want that big promotion.
02:00-02:04
Maybe you want that bonus this year that you aren't sure is coming.
02:05-02:10
Maybe you want healing in your own body or in the body of a loved one.
02:11-02:11
Here's a big one.
02:12-02:16
Maybe you want to feel like you belong.
02:17-02:20
You want to not be rejected.
02:21-02:25
That is a desire that every single person in this room shares.
02:26-02:32
It's a desire that starts when you're young and it continues on for the rest of your life.
02:33-02:41
As a kid and then a teenager, Every single one of us was desperate to fit in and have a group of friends to belong to.
02:43-02:50
Rejection is painful, and it leaves lasting memories, especially when you're a kid.
02:51-02:56
You know, growing up, my friends and I used to have a sleepover almost every single Friday night.
02:57-03:02
And during 11th grade, there was a month-long stretch where there was no sleepovers.
03:03-03:03
And I was really confused.
03:04-03:06
I didn't know why this routine had been broken.
03:07-03:13
So one day at the lunch table, I said to my friends, hey guys, we haven't had a sleepover in a while, do you guys wanna come to my house this Sunday?
03:14-03:19
And whenever I said that, everyone at the table erupted in uncontrollable laughter.
03:20-03:23
And I was, again, just very, very confused.
03:24-03:27
After they were all done and calmed down, I said, what's so funny?
03:28-03:37
They then proceeded to tell me that they thought it would be hilarious to not invite me to sleepovers for a while, to see how long it would take me to notice and say something.
03:39-03:43
I missed a whole month of sleepovers with my friends.
03:44-03:48
And to be honest, in that moment, externally, I tried to laugh it off.
03:49-03:51
I tried to act like it wasn't a big deal.
03:52-03:54
But internally, I felt rejected.
03:56-03:58
I felt like I didn't belong.
04:00-04:01
You ever felt that way before?
04:04-04:05
A friend stopped talking to you?
04:07-04:11
A family member cut off communication for seemingly no reason?
04:13-04:17
A boyfriend or girlfriend ended the relationship without warning?
04:19-04:24
Your spouse chose to give up on the marriage and leave?
04:26-04:28
You have felt rejected before.
04:29-04:32
You have felt like you don't belong.
04:35-04:36
Do you feel that way right now?
04:37-04:42
Maybe you couldn't care less about what gifts you're gonna get under the Christmas tree this year.
04:43-04:47
Maybe you don't want anything from Amazon or the mall.
04:47-04:51
More than anything this year, you just want to experience that sense of belonging.
04:52-05:00
You want to know that there are people who love you, who care about you, and will never let go of you no matter what you do.
05:03-05:09
I can't guarantee you that sense of belonging with your family and with your friends this Christmas.
05:10-05:11
I wish I could, but I can't.
05:12-05:19
But I can guarantee there is someone infinitely greater who will give you that sense of belonging.
05:19-05:28
I can guarantee there is someone who will not reject you, who will not turn away from you if you truly turn to him, and that person is Jesus Christ.
05:30-05:32
There is no one better to belong to.
05:33-05:36
There is no one better to be loved by.
05:37-05:42
There is no one with a tighter grip in all of existence than him.
05:43-05:58
I want you to walk out of this service this morning if you're a believer with a greater sense of confidence that you were loved by Jesus Christ, that you are safe and secure in his steady hands.
05:58-06:00
There is no better gift than that.
06:02-06:10
And if you're not a Christian this morning, I want you to know that the invitation has been extended to belong to Christ.
06:11-06:13
He commands you to follow him.
06:14-06:21
He invites you to enjoy his acceptance and not fear others' rejection.
06:22-06:29
More than anything, I want all of you in this room to wanna belong to Jesus this Christmas.
06:31-06:34
So before we continue any further, let's go to the Lord and ask for his help.
06:35-06:41
Please pray for me that I will faithfully represent God's word and I will pray for you that you will faithfully receive it.
06:43-06:55
Father, we come to you and we bring all of our pain to you, all of our fears, all of our deepest, darkest worries that we're afraid to admit to other people.
06:58-07:11
Lord, in this room, I'm sure there's many, many stories of rejection, many, many stories of feeling like we don't belong, and I'm sure if we brought everybody up on stage to share how they feel that there wouldn't be a dry eye in the house today.
07:14-07:21
Lord, we ask that you bring the comfort that only you can, that you would challenge us, you would tear us down that you can build us back up again.
07:24-07:27
And Lord, I do ask for myself, Lord, your word is perfect, but I am not.
07:29-07:37
I do not feel up to the task of proclaiming such a glorious passage, but Lord, give me your strength, give me your wisdom.
07:37-07:44
I pray for everyone in this room that you would give them the faith to receive your word today.
07:46-07:49
I pray that you would seek and save the lost.
07:50-07:55
And for the rest of us, Lord, we would walk out of this room with a greater sense of confidence in who we belong to.
07:57-07:59
We ask all this in Jesus' mighty name, amen.
08:01-08:07
Well, as a quick refresher, let's reread the verses that Pastor Jeff covered last week.
08:07-08:11
This will set the table and help us to understand the context of our passage this morning.
08:11-08:14
So John chapter one, verses one through three.
08:14-08:22
"In the beginning was the word, "and the word was with God, and the word was God." He was in the beginning with God.
08:23-08:29
All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.
08:30-08:34
These verses are all about who Jesus is.
08:34-08:37
He is the word of God who created all things.
08:38-08:41
Without Jesus, this universe would not exist.
08:41-08:43
This world would not exist.
08:43-08:46
You would not exist.
08:47-08:53
Jesus is the source and sustainer of everything that you can see and everything that you cannot see.
08:55-08:57
Jesus isn't just the word of God.
08:58-09:01
John says that he is God himself.
09:03-09:11
Verses one through three focus on who Jesus is, while verses four through 13 focus on what Jesus gives.
09:13-09:20
If you properly understand who Jesus is and what Jesus gives, you will want to belong to him.
09:21-09:30
You will want to belong to him because no one can compare to who Jesus is and nothing can compare to what Jesus gives.
09:32-09:36
So our outline for this morning, I want to belong to Jesus.
09:37-09:42
I want to belong to Jesus, first reason, because he gives me an unbeatable hope.
09:44-09:47
Because he gives me an unbeatable hope.
09:49-09:51
Let's read chapter one, verse four.
09:51-09:57
In him, in Jesus was life, and the life was the light of men.
09:59-10:04
Life was and is found in Jesus and him alone.
10:05-10:08
As we already discussed, Jesus made all things.
10:08-10:10
He is the source of all life on earth.
10:10-10:12
He is the cause of everything.
10:13-10:17
But He's not just the cause of physical life.
10:17-10:21
He is the only supplier of eternal life as well.
10:22-10:28
There is no other viable option to turn to or to search for besides Jesus.
10:30-10:32
But that doesn't stop us from trying, does it?
10:33-10:38
Billions have tried and billions have failed and trying to find true life apart from Jesus.
10:39-10:44
And you and I have tried our hand at this pointless search as well.
10:45-10:53
Trying to find life in our jobs, in our finances, in our status, our stuff, and even our families.
10:55-10:57
Life cannot be found in your job.
10:57-11:00
You realize that one day you will have to retire.
11:02-11:03
You may get let go from that job.
11:05-11:07
One day that job will belong to someone else.
11:09-11:12
Your life is not found in how much money you have.
11:13-11:14
Let me ask you a question.
11:14-11:18
How much of the money in your various accounts will you be able to take with you when you die?
11:21-11:21
[CAT MEOWS]
11:21-11:22
Do we not know the answer?
11:24-11:26
Not a single dime.
11:27-11:30
Life is not found in your status and popularity.
11:31-11:33
There will always be someone bigger and better than you.
11:35-11:40
In 150 or 200 years, how many people on this planet will be thinking about you?
11:42-11:46
The most likely answer is not a single soul.
11:48-11:50
Life is not even found in your family.
11:51-11:57
As great as your spouse, your kids, your relatives might be, they cannot meet the deepest needs of your soul.
11:58-12:00
Can your spouse forgive you of your sins?
12:01-12:05
Can your kids give you that unbeatable hope that you're looking for?
12:06-12:06
No.
12:07-12:09
Can your family guarantee your eternity?
12:11-12:11
No.
12:12-12:19
All of those needs can only be met by Jesus Christ who is the only source of life.
12:22-12:26
And John goes on to say that this life was the light of men.
12:28-12:29
sounds pretty cool, right?
12:29-12:30
But what does that actually mean?
12:30-12:33
The life was the light of men.
12:34-12:38
I'm no scientist, but let me give you a quick pop quiz in astronomy.
12:38-12:41
What do all the planets in the solar system orbit around?
12:43-12:45
You're all really tired this morning.
12:45-12:46
What is it again?
12:46-12:48
All right, very, very good.
12:48-12:50
Could we survive without the sun?
12:51-12:53
What does the sun do for us?
12:54-13:01
is the major source of life, because it is the major source of light and heat on this planet.
13:02-13:05
Without the sun shining as it does, we would all freeze to death.
13:06-13:10
Without the sun shining as it does, we would not be able to see anything.
13:11-13:13
We would be lost in the darkness.
13:15-13:21
Without the light of Christ shining as it does, we would not be able to see and understand the truth.
13:22-13:27
Without the light of Christ shining as it does, we would not know how to be saved.
13:27-13:31
We would not know how to have a relationship, a friendship with God.
13:31-13:38
Without the light of Christ shining as it does, we would be hopeless and lost in the darkness of our sin.
13:39-13:45
Without the light of Christ shining as it does, none of us would have any spiritual life.
13:48-13:51
Who is the light of the sun offered to?
13:54-14:01
The 8.3 billion people on this planet, who is the light of the Son of God offered to?
14:03-14:07
Same exact answer, the 8.3 billion people on this planet.
14:08-14:16
But as we'll see in a few minutes, many choose to hide from his light, and by doing so, they miss out on the life that he offers.
14:17-14:22
But that does not stop Jesus from shining his light, which we see in verse five, read that with me.
14:23-14:28
The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.
14:30-14:34
The word overcome in this verse can also be translated as comprehended or understood.
14:35-14:39
And many scholars believe that John picked this word for a very specific reason.
14:39-14:41
He chose this word because it has a double meaning.
14:43-14:47
Each of these words make sense in context and are flip sides of one another.
14:49-14:51
So let's cover one side of the coin first.
14:51-14:55
Let's cover the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.
14:57-15:01
You know, I walk my dog Murdoch almost every single night at 10 p.m. after the family is asleep.
15:02-15:05
And my wife hates this plan because she thinks I'm gonna get pancaked by a car.
15:05-15:10
It hasn't happened yet, so please just pray for me that this trend continues and I'm able to be safe.
15:11-15:15
But there is this one house in my neighborhood that fascinates me.
15:16-15:23
This house has a lamppost in the front yard that shines brightly for about 10 to 20 seconds, then it just shuts off.
15:24-15:27
And it comes back on a few seconds later.
15:28-15:31
And it happens every single night for the past year.
15:32-15:37
And this may sound strange to you, but I think about that lamppost almost every single day.
15:38-15:47
Every single time I exit the house to go take Murdoch on this walk, I wonder is tonight gonna be the night when that light is extinguished.
15:48-15:53
Is tonight the night when darkness will overcome that person's yard?
15:55-15:56
'Cause there's something wrong with that lamppost.
15:56-15:58
There's something wrong with the bulb.
15:58-15:59
There's something wrong with the wiring.
16:00-16:02
It's just a matter of time.
16:03-16:05
I don't have much faith in that lamppost.
16:06-16:11
I don't think you would have much faith in that lamppost if you took a field trip to my neighborhood and drove past it.
16:12-16:16
But do you know who you should have total and complete faith in?
16:16-16:22
Do you know whose light you should never wonder or worry about being extinguished?
16:22-16:23
Jesus Christ.
16:24-16:27
The light of his glory never flickers.
16:28-16:31
The light of his gracious love never turns off.
16:31-16:34
He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
16:35-16:44
No matter how dark this world gets, no matter how bleak your life looks, Jesus Christ is shining just as brightly as he always has.
16:46-16:53
Sin, injustice, and evil cannot lower the intensity of who he is and what he has done.
16:53-16:59
Nothing and no one can turn the dimmer switch down on the light of the world.
17:01-17:03
Let's flip over to the other side of the coin.
17:04-17:09
The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not understood it.
17:10-17:12
You know, Satan and his demons are crafty.
17:12-17:13
I'll give them that.
17:13-17:14
They are intelligent.
17:15-17:23
But at the same time, these evil forces are complete morons in comparison to the all-knowing, all-wise God of the universe.
17:24-17:32
The devil and his demons are fighting a losing battle because they cannot figure out a way to extinguish the light of Christ.
17:33-17:39
They're like a bunch of roided up bodybuilders trying to push over a mountain with their bare hands.
17:39-17:40
It's just not gonna happen.
17:41-17:46
Their attempts to snuff out the light only fan it into flame even more.
17:48-17:51
The harder they try, the harder they fail.
17:52-17:55
No matter what they do, Jesus keeps forgiving more and more people.
17:56-17:58
No matter what they try, the church keeps getting built up.
17:59-18:04
No matter what scheme they hatch, the kingdom of God keeps advancing.
18:05-18:11
Satan and his workers have already been defeated by the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.
18:12-18:15
They know that eternal judgment awaits them.
18:16-18:19
Are they gonna go quietly without a fight until Jesus returns?
18:20-18:23
No, they are kicking and screaming like bratty children.
18:25-18:31
And I know that their kicking and screaming causes a lot of pain and hardship to every single person in this room.
18:33-18:36
But they cannot change the ending that God has already written.
18:37-18:42
The light will win because the darkness cannot overcome it or understand it.
18:45-18:46
That is certain.
18:47-18:48
That is a fact.
18:51-18:56
Maybe you've been a believer for months, for years, and maybe even for decades.
18:57-19:00
And you know the truths of verses four and five intellectually.
19:02-19:07
You have a very hard time believing these truths emotionally and experientially.
19:09-19:14
You're in a tough season right now and you feel like the darkness is winning.
19:15-19:18
You feel like the light is losing.
19:19-19:23
You feel like the darkness understands how to overcome the light just fine.
19:24-19:29
You feel like you cannot have victory over that sin pattern in your life.
19:31-19:36
You feel like there is more sin in you There is mercy in Christ.
19:38-19:41
You feel helpless, you feel hopeless.
19:45-19:47
If that's how you feel right now, my heart goes out to you.
19:48-19:49
'Cause I've been there before.
19:50-19:51
And I'm sure I'll be there again.
19:53-19:56
If that's how you feel, I wanna challenge you to stop looking at you.
19:57-20:00
Stop looking at your circumstances.
20:00-20:02
Fix your eyes on Jesus.
20:03-20:06
Focus your attention on what He has given to you.
20:06-20:11
Root your confidence in the new and everlasting life that has been given to you.
20:12-20:19
Ask the Holy Spirit to re-energize you with the light you see when you open up the pages of this book during your daily quiet time.
20:21-20:23
You understand your hope is not found in you.
20:25-20:29
You understand that your hope is not even found in your circumstances changing.
20:30-20:33
Your hope is found in belonging to Christ.
20:35-20:42
When you belong to Christ, you are given an unbeatable hope from an unbeatable savior.
20:45-20:49
I want to belong to Jesus because he gives me an unbeatable hope.
20:49-20:54
I want to belong to Jesus because he gives me a meaningful mission.
20:55-21:00
That's the second reason on your outline, because he gives me a meaningful mission.
21:05-21:08
In verses four through five, John talks about the message of the light.
21:09-21:13
In verses six through eight, John talks about the messenger of the light.
21:13-21:14
Let's read these verses together.
21:15-21:18
There is a man sent from God whose name was John.
21:19-21:24
He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him.
21:24-21:28
was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
21:30-21:34
So be clear, John is referencing a totally different John here.
21:34-21:34
That's kind of confusing.
21:35-21:36
What John is he talking about?
21:38-21:39
John the Baptist.
21:40-21:41
Why couldn't it have had a different name?
21:41-21:45
Why couldn't it have been like Bill the Baptist or Barron the Baptist or whatever?
21:45-21:46
Why did it have to be John?
21:46-21:47
Well, don't worry, we'll make it work.
21:48-21:49
We'll deal with it.
21:49-21:59
John the Baptist was sent by God as a messenger to prepare the way for the promised Messiah and Savior who is prophesied about all throughout the Old Testament.
22:00-22:03
And John was prophesied of in the Old Testament as well.
22:04-22:08
Isaiah 40, verse three, a voice cries, "In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord.
22:09-22:24
"Make straight in the desert a highway for our God." Malachi 3, 1, "Behold, I send my messenger, "and he will prepare the way before me." John the Baptist came to roll out the red carpet for the coming king.
22:25-22:29
He didn't come so that others would believe in him and believe in his greatness.
22:30-22:34
He came so that others might believe in Christ through him.
22:36-22:42
And John the Baptist's followers once came to him to give him the news that a lot of people were following Jesus.
22:43-22:44
He was getting more popular.
22:45-22:49
And his disciples were even baptizing people, which is kind of like John's main thing.
22:49-22:51
It's his name, right, John the Baptist.
22:51-22:53
Like, John, don't you realize that all this is happening?
22:56-22:57
Jesus is getting more popular than you.
22:59-23:00
Did this frustrate John?
23:02-23:02
Was he jealous?
23:04-23:12
Not at all, he was actually really, really excited because he was successfully carrying out the meaningful mission that God had entrusted to him.
23:13-23:16
Here's the response he gives his disciples.
23:16-23:27
He says, "He, Jesus, must increase, "but I must decrease." That was the slogan of John's life in ministry.
23:28-23:31
That should be the slogan of your life in ministry as well.
23:32-23:36
He must increase, but I must decrease.
23:36-23:38
You realize you're not the point of anything.
23:39-23:40
Jesus is.
23:41-23:43
John the Baptist wasn't the point of anything either.
23:43-24:14
Jesus was his mission was to point everyone to Christ to bear witness to his light And I know what some of you serious students of the Bible may be thinking right now you're internally objecting a bit Hold on a minute pastor Taylor. You're saying that Jesus is the light and John the Baptist wasn't but later on in this gospel didn't Jesus say that John was like a lamp that was shining and And doesn't Jesus tell us that all Christians are the light of the world?
24:15-24:16
How does this all make sense?
24:18-24:22
Well, yeah, Jesus does say that in Matthew 5.14 and in John 5.35.
24:24-24:29
To help answer those great questions, let me slip on my lab coat again and give you another pop quiz in astronomy.
24:31-24:39
When you look up in the night sky and you see the moon shining bright, does that moon actually have any light of its own?
24:40-24:42
Where does its light come from?
24:43-24:48
The sun, the light of the moon is shared and reflected.
24:49-24:52
It's the same for John and it's the same for you and me.
24:52-24:57
We have a shared and reflected light that is given to us by Jesus Christ.
24:58-25:07
All throughout John chapter one, verses four through 13, the Greek word phos is used in reference to Christ and phos is the essence of light.
25:08-25:13
In John 5.35, the Greek word luknos is used to describe John.
25:13-25:15
A luknos is a portable lamp.
25:16-25:21
Jesus is the light, while John is the lamp that displays the light.
25:23-25:24
A candle cannot shine on its own.
25:24-25:26
It needs to be given the light of a flame.
25:28-25:30
A lamp in your house cannot shine on its own.
25:30-25:33
It needs to be given the light of a bulb.
25:35-25:38
Jesus Christ is the sun, and you are the moon.
25:38-25:41
Jesus Christ is the flame, you are the candle.
25:42-25:45
Jesus Christ is the bulb and you are the lamp.
25:46-25:51
You are here on this earth to display his light to everyone.
25:52-25:55
To shine his light in the darkness.
25:55-25:59
To bear witness about his light because you have none of your own.
26:01-26:03
And I know what some of you are thinking at this point.
26:03-26:14
Okay Taylor, I know I need to buckle down, I need to share the gospel, I need to make disciples, I need to shine his light everywhere I go, I'll do that as soon as the holidays are over.
26:15-26:18
Whenever Christmas is in the rear view mirror, I'll get right on that.
26:21-26:21
No you won't.
26:24-26:27
And you're thinking, where's your Christmas cheer, Pastor Taylor, what do you mean no I won't?
26:29-26:29
I mean you won't.
26:31-26:36
If you will not bear witness to the light of Christ today, what makes you think you'll do it tomorrow?
26:37-26:46
If you are unwilling to bear witness to the light of Christ at the end of 2025, what makes you think you'll be willing to do it at the start of 2026?
26:47-26:52
Do you understand that Christmas is the perfect time to bear witness to the light of Christ?
26:53-26:56
This is the time when you're around people you're not usually around.
26:57-27:00
This time of season's all about joy, but most people are miserable.
27:02-27:07
Most people are looking for something that they cannot find because they're looking in the wrong place.
27:09-27:12
Right now is the perfect time to bear witness to the light.
27:13-27:21
Grab a bunch of the Christmas Eve invite cards at the back table and hand them out as if you were given $100 for each one you handed out.
27:22-27:26
I'm not gonna give you $100, but the rewards you get in heaven for that will be infinitely greater.
27:28-27:36
Grab one of those invites, put it in an envelope, put money in that envelope, put a personal note in that envelope and give it to your mailman tomorrow.
27:37-27:45
Take it upon yourself to read scripture at your family get-together this week, and talk about why you're even celebrating Christmas, why Jesus came in the first place.
27:46-27:50
Stop putting off that gospel conversation with that unsaved family member at Christmas.
27:51-27:52
Finally, do it.
27:54-27:58
Invite that unbeliever who has no family in the area to your Christmas dinner.
27:59-28:00
Buy them a Bible.
28:00-28:03
Write a note in that Bible and give it to them.
28:04-28:06
I keep going and going and going.
28:07-28:11
There are so many ways to bear witness to the light of Christ this week.
28:11-28:13
Don't make excuses for why you can't.
28:14-28:17
Don't point to your calendar and say you're too busy.
28:18-28:20
This is the reason why you're here, isn't it?
28:20-28:21
To bear witness to the light.
28:22-28:26
If anything, it's other things get in the way of the most important thing on your calendar.
28:27-28:34
Don't justify your fear and laziness by saying, you don't wanna stir the pot this Christmas, you just wanna have a calm Christmas.
28:37-28:42
Shouldn't you care more about sharing the peace of Christ with your family and friends?
28:44-28:48
When you belong to Christ, you recognize that you've been given a meaningful mission.
28:49-28:54
When you belong to Christ, you value your calling way more than your comfort.
28:55-29:00
When you belong to Christ, you make disciples, you don't make excuses.
29:00-29:06
When you belong to Christ, you bear witness to his light because the darkness is everywhere that you go.
29:09-29:13
I wanna belong to Jesus because he gives me an unbeatable hope.
29:14-29:18
I wanna belong to Jesus because he gives me a meaningful mission.
29:18-29:24
I want to belong to Jesus, final reason, because he gives me a spot in his family that I cannot earn.
29:25-29:28
Because he gives me a spot in his family that I cannot earn.
29:30-29:34
We've talked about the message of the light and the messenger of the light.
29:35-29:40
Now we're gonna wrap up by talking about the two responses to the message of the light.
29:41-29:43
The first response is in verses nine through 11.
29:44-29:49
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
29:49-29:55
He was in the world and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
29:56-30:00
He came to his own and his own people did not receive him.
30:02-30:06
As I said earlier, the light of the Son of God is offered to everyone.
30:07-30:10
Anyone is welcome to step into the light.
30:10-30:16
Anyone is welcome to receive the life of Christ and be forever changed.
30:17-30:21
but most choose to step out of the light rather than into it.
30:21-30:26
Most choose to reject the life of Christ that is offered.
30:27-30:28
And this is proven by verse 11.
30:28-30:32
He came to his own people and his own people did not receive him.
30:33-30:35
And this verse has two different focuses.
30:36-30:39
When you zoom out, John is talking about mankind.
30:41-30:45
Statistically and biblically, there are way more non-Christians than Christians.
30:46-30:50
There are way more people who reject Christ than receive him.
30:50-30:52
Can we all agree on that basic fact of life?
30:53-30:58
But if you zoom in, John is talking about Israel.
30:59-31:05
Many of Jesus' fellow Jews rejected him, hated him, called for his crucifixion.
31:06-31:10
Many of the Jews rejected the message of Christ when it was shared by the apostles.
31:11-31:16
Even to this day, many Jewish people refuse to accept that Jesus is the light.
31:17-31:18
That's not always gonna be the case.
31:18-31:22
Paul does say in Romans that one day all Israel will be saved.
31:22-31:30
Don't have time to talk about that right now as Pastor Jeff often says, buy me some Pantera bread or Chick-fil-A and we'll talk about it across the street sometime.
31:31-31:32
Here's an important question.
31:34-31:37
Why do most people reject Jesus?
31:38-31:42
Why do most people not receive the light of Christ?
31:44-31:47
John gives us a very simple yet sad answer.
31:48-31:54
Later on in this gospel in chapter three, verses 19 through 20, he writes, "And this is the judgment.
31:55-32:02
"The light has come into the world, "and people love the darkness rather than the light, "because their works were evil.
32:03-32:17
"For everyone who does wicked things hates the light "and does not come to the light, "lest his works should be exposed." Have you ever been sleeping or laying in a dark room and suddenly someone turns the lights on?
32:18-32:19
Are you overjoyed by this?
32:19-32:21
Are you really excited by this?
32:22-32:23
What's your natural human response?
32:23-32:24
What do you do?
32:25-32:36
You close your eyes, you cover your face with your hands and your blanket, you yell, "Turn that light out!" That is the natural human response, physically and spiritually.
32:38-32:43
It is far more comfortable to lay in the darkness than be in the light.
32:45-32:49
It's simpler to be oblivious and not see yourself for who you really are.
32:51-32:56
It's effortless to do nothing about your greatest problem, which is your sinful nature.
32:57-33:01
It's easy to lash out at those who try to pull you into the light.
33:02-33:06
That is why most people do not receive Jesus.
33:08-33:09
They'd rather lay in the darkness.
33:10-33:13
They love their sin more than him.
33:14-33:17
That's the first response to the message of the light.
33:17-33:26
John says there's only one other response, and that's in verses 12 to 13, the best part of this entire passage.
33:28-33:43
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God.
33:45-33:49
The first and wrong way to respond to Jesus is rejection.
33:51-33:56
The second and right way to respond to Jesus is receiving and believing.
33:57-34:03
You reach out to receive the gift of eternal life by believing in the name of Jesus Christ.
34:04-34:09
We say that all the time, but what does it mean to believe in the name of Jesus.
34:10-34:18
Well, a name represents all of who a person is and all that a person does.
34:20-34:26
When you believe in the name of Jesus Christ, you are believing that he is who the Bible says that he is.
34:27-34:31
That he has done all the Bible says he has done.
34:32-34:37
You wholeheartedly believe that he is the word of God who created all things.
34:37-34:39
You have faith that he is the light of the world.
34:39-34:42
He is your only source of hope.
34:42-34:50
You trust that he is the Savior who died on the cross for your sins, who took the punishment that you deserve.
34:50-34:58
You submit to the reality that he is the Lord of your life, who has the divine right to tell you what to think, say, and do.
34:59-35:08
When you receive Jesus and believe in his name, John says that you are given the right to become a child of God.
35:11-35:18
There are only two children in this entire world who have the right to claim that they are my kids.
35:20-35:25
I love all the kids in this church, but I love two of those kids the most.
35:26-35:30
Only two of those kids have a legal right to say that I am their father.
35:31-35:35
Only Samuel and Emmie Brown have that legal right.
35:37-35:38
What's the evidence of this?
35:39-35:45
Well, Kate and I have their birth certificates at home as proof that those kids belong to us.
35:46-35:54
And when you belong to Christ, your spiritual birth certificate is signed and sealed by his own blood.
35:55-36:00
You are given the right to claim God as your father and Jesus as your big brother.
36:01-36:07
You have given the right to declare that you belong to the greatest family imaginable.
36:10-36:11
Can you earn this right?
36:14-36:16
Can you work your way into the family of God?
36:18-36:20
Not according to John at the end of verse 13.
36:21-36:37
He says, "Who were born not of blood, "nor the will of the flesh, "nor the will of man, but of God." You are not given the right to become a child of God because you're a good person who does nice things for other people.
36:37-36:44
You are not given the right to become a child of God because your parents are great Christians and raised you in the church.
36:45-36:50
You are not given the right to become a child of God because you come to church every once in a while.
36:50-36:53
You pray regularly and do community service projects.
36:53-37:00
You are not given the right to become a child of God because of your track record and your good works.
37:00-37:07
You are given the right to become a child of God because of the gracious work of God in Christ.
37:07-37:08
That's it.
37:09-37:11
That's the only source.
37:15-37:16
How do you respond to Jesus?
37:18-37:22
Do you reject him or do you receive him?
37:24-37:34
Do you believe in His name, His work, and His reputation, or do you believe in your name, your works, and your reputation?
37:36-37:42
One response leads to eternal destruction, while the other leads to eternal life.
37:42-37:50
One response leads to everything being taken away from you, and the other leads to everything being given to you.
37:52-37:58
Please don't leave this room without considering who Jesus is and what he is offering you.
38:00-38:03
Everything hinges on your response to him.
38:08-38:09
What do you want for Christmas?
38:11-38:12
Do you wanna belong to the world?
38:14-38:15
Or do you wanna belong to Jesus?
38:18-38:26
Do you wanna settle for the flickering hopes of this sinful culture, or do you want the unbeatable hope of an unbeatable savior?
38:27-38:30
Do you want to lead a meaningless existence?
38:31-38:36
Or do you want to carry out the meaningful mission of pointing others to the point of life?
38:38-38:42
Do you want to be a child of the devil who absolutely hates you?
38:43-38:47
Or do you want to be a child of God who unconditionally loves you?
38:49-38:53
If you have not yet believed and received Jesus, now is your chance.
38:53-38:54
Now is your opportunity.
38:55-38:59
You don't know if you're getting another opportunity past this one, so don't waste it.
39:01-39:05
The life of Christ is being offered to you right now.
39:06-39:07
Don't slap the gift away.
39:09-39:11
The light of Christ is shining in this moment.
39:12-39:15
Do not step back into the darkness once again.
39:17-39:18
Now is your time.
39:19-39:20
Now is your chance.
39:21-39:22
You're alive right now.
39:23-39:24
You're not guaranteed tomorrow.
39:28-39:28
Life is hard.
39:30-39:33
Discouragement and disappointments are all around us.
39:34-39:37
It's so easy to lose track of what's important in the darkness.
39:38-39:46
And we need the light of biblical reminders to let us know what is true, what is real, and what is right.
39:48-39:52
This ring I wear on my left hand is a symbol that I belong to my wife.
39:53-39:59
I'm taken, I'm not looking for anybody else to give me that feeling, right, to belong to.
40:01-40:08
The Lord's Supper is a powerful symbol that you belong to Christ and no one else.
40:08-40:13
You're spoken for by the Son of God and you're not looking for anyone else to give your life meaning.
40:13-40:17
You're not looking to anything else to give your life meaning.

Small Group Discussion
Read John 1:4-13

What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Who or what do you often set your hopes on? Why can’t these people and things satisfy you as Jesus can?
What excuses are holding you back from bearing witness to the light? How will you bear witness to the light this week and next?
How does Jesus give us the right to become children of God? Why can’t this right be deserved or earned?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Jeff Miller

December 14, 2025

Want for Christmas?

I Want to Know God

Jeff Miller

December 14, 2025

Want for Christmas?

Introduction:

John 17:3 – And this is eternal life, that they may know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

John 1:18 – No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

I Want to Know God (John 1:1–3):

The REALITY: Jesus is GOD.

Colossians 2:9 – For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.

Zechariah 12:10 – And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced…

Acts 20:28 – Pay careful attention to yourselves... to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

Hebrews 1:2 – But in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
The RESPONSE: FAITH in Jesus.

Hebrews 11:6 – And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

How Can I Grow in Knowing Jesus?
1. CONFESS with your mouth.
  
  Romans 10:9 – If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
2. HEAR the Word.
  
  Romans 10:17 – So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
3. KEEP His commandments.
  
  John 15:10 – If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:41-00:42
Stegosaurus.
00:45-00:47
Nobody asks, so I'm just going to tell you.
00:49-00:50
Game show host.
00:52-00:52
And gray.
00:54-00:57
Oh, oh, and what I want for Christmas.
01:02-01:04
I just want to know God.
01:09-01:18
Did you ever ask for something like for Christmas or whatever and somebody got you the generic version?
01:18-01:20
Has that ever happened to anybody else?
01:20-01:24
Show of hands, you wanted something and you got the generic version?
01:26-01:27
That happened to me when I was a kid.
01:28-01:33
When I was a kid, they came out with this wacky thing.
01:33-01:34
It was called a pogo ball.
01:35-01:37
How many people, show of hands, remember the pogo balls?
01:38-01:47
Okay, a few of you, one person in the first service did, or about half of the first service's attendants, remembers what a pogo ball was.
01:47-01:52
If you don't know, just imagine like a snowman with the head cut off.
01:52-01:54
It was that kind of shape, right?
01:56-02:05
And it had this hard plastic like ring that went in between these two like balls, right?
02:05-02:07
That were kind of fused together.
02:07-02:14
And you were supposed to like stand on the plastic disc and squeeze your feet on the top ball.
02:15-02:19
And then you would bounce on the pogo ball.
02:19-02:27
And the pogo ball would let you jump almost as high as you could jump if you weren't on a pogo ball.
02:31-02:33
But it was the hot item the one year.
02:34-02:36
And I wanted a pogo ball.
02:37-02:39
You know what my parents got me?
02:41-02:42
The Saturn ball.
02:46-02:51
Pogo balls, generic cousin, the Saturn ball.
02:55-03:03
And not only was it actually not fun to use, but my family was making fun of me when I did use it.
03:03-03:08
When I would jump on it, they'd be like, Here we go on our Saturn ball, our Saturn ball, our Saturn ball.
03:09-03:10
And that really hurt my feelings.
03:11-03:17
So the Saturn ball got thrown into a closet and it's probably still there until today.
03:19-03:28
But look, I know we've had this conversation before, but there's just some things you can't go generic, right?
03:28-03:38
Like ketchup, Pop-Tarts, Oreos, the generic's not the same.
03:41-03:44
Don't try to tell me that it is because you're just lying to yourself.
03:47-03:55
But nothing has been made more generic than God.
03:57-04:03
We live in a culture that is okay with the generic concept of God.
04:05-04:10
But when you get specific, people get squirrely about that.
04:12-04:20
You're like, when people say, "God bless America, "God bless America." Yeah, you can ask, "Well, which God?
04:22-04:42
"Do you mean the God of the Bible, "the one who created us, the one who judges sin, "the one who commands us to repent and believe, "the one who calls us to live our lives "according to his wisdom?" And it's like, "Oh no, not that God." But we're just okay with the generic concept.
04:42-04:48
But you see, the problem with that line of thinking is God isn't a generic concept.
04:50-04:54
In fact, God's not a concept at all.
04:56-04:57
God is a person.
05:00-05:26
God is a specific person. And as we enter into the Christmas season, you know, we know the Christmas story from Matthew and from Luke, right? We know that version of the Christmas story well with the census and Bethlehem and Mary and Joseph and angels and shepherds and mangers and the star and the magi and...
05:26-05:34
Well, Matthew and Luke sort of tell the story of the incarnation like looking over people's shoulders, right?
05:34-05:39
But we're going to be looking at the gospel of John because his Christmas story is a little different.
05:40-05:44
In John's Christmas story, we are looking over God's shoulder.
05:47-05:49
That's really the theme of the whole book of John.
05:51-06:08
We studied this some years back, but the theme of John is this, the God of the universe has revealed Himself by coming into this world as a man to not just save you, but to have a relationship with you.
06:10-06:15
The God wants you to know Him.
06:20-06:23
In fact, this is what Jesus Christ was praying.
06:24-06:43
John 17.3, Jesus said, "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent." Eternal life.
06:45-06:53
more important than eternal life because you are either going to live forever with God or you're going to die forever apart from God.
06:56-06:57
So what do you want for Christmas?
07:02-07:04
Top of your list should be eternal life.
07:06-07:10
And according to Jesus, that comes from knowing Him, from knowing God.
07:11-07:21
And I do have to remind you that knowing about God is not the same as actually knowing God.
07:21-07:29
You realize those are two completely different concepts, knowing about God and knowing God, not the same.
07:30-07:31
Think of it this way.
07:31-07:46
Imagine a young man comes to church, a single man, and he's been coming here for a while when all of a sudden one day he notices there is a beautiful young single woman.
07:48-07:56
And he's like, "I don't think I met her, but who is that?" But he gets his friend, he's like, "Hey, find out who that girl is." Right?
07:56-08:02
And his friend comes back with the information and he says, "Oh, you asked about that girl.
08:03-08:03
Here's what I know.
08:04-08:06
She loves missions, right?
08:06-08:08
And she loves working with children.
08:09-08:15
She enjoys traveling and get this, she's a big Steelers fan.
08:18-08:20
But she also loves rom-coms.
08:23-08:37
Now, if this friend goes back to the dude and gives this report on what this woman is like, do you think this man would be like, all right, now that I have the information about her, I am satisfied, thank you.
08:38-08:38
That is all.
08:41-08:42
Is that the end of the story?
08:44-08:51
No, you see, now that he knows about her, that makes him all the more want to know her personally.
08:52-08:55
You see, that's how it is with God.
08:55-08:57
That's how it is with Jesus Christ.
08:58-09:05
The more you know about Him, the more you want to know Him personally.
09:08-09:10
The fact should lead you to the relationship.
09:12-09:14
Well, how do I know God personally?
09:14-09:20
Well, John 1:18 tells us that no one has ever seen God, the only God who is at the Father's side.
09:21-09:22
He has made him known.
09:23-09:32
And folks, this is a fundamental truth, that the only way that we can know God is he has to make himself known.
09:33-09:42
And that's what we celebrate every Christmas, that God has made Himself known because He did it in the most personal way possible.
09:42-09:45
He showed up and introduced Himself.
09:47-09:53
So look at John 1, picking up in verse 1.
09:53-09:55
We're just gonna look at the first three verses today.
09:55-10:04
And this might feel more like a Bible study than a sermon, but these are important truths that we gotta wrestle down here.
10:05-10:16
John 1 says, "In the beginning was the Word, "and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." He was in the beginning with God.
10:19-10:26
All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.
10:31-10:39
Notice that John, in introducing our Lord, He's using this word, word, a lot.
10:39-10:42
Why does he use the word, word?
10:44-10:53
Well, he doesn't really explain that, but I promise you that the audience that he wrote to in the first century would have known exactly what he was talking about.
10:54-10:59
'Cause John primarily would have been writing to the Greeks and the Jews.
11:00-11:20
And the word, word in the Greek is logos, and to the Greeks that Logos was like this impersonal force, this impersonal energy source, because the Greek philosophers were like, look, all of this had to come from somewhere.
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You know, the world didn't happen by accident.
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There has to be some force out there that it's behind the structure of the earth and all logic and reason.
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And they had this idea, it was an impersonal force, and they called it the word, the logos.
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And see, so John is writing to the Greeks, and he goes, "Hey, you guys talk about the logos, right?
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"Did you know the logos is a person?
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"It's not a thing, it's a person.
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"It's a person that was with God, "it's a person that was God, "and it's a person," according to John 1:14, that became flesh and dwelt among us." So that's how the Greeks would have heard this.
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You know how the Jews would have heard this?
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I mean, probably you don't have to guess, right?
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When the Jews would have heard the word "word," what would they have thought of?
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They immediately would have thought of the law and the prophets, what we call the Old Testament.
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You see, you go through the Old Testament over and over and over.
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The word of the Lord came to the word of the Lord came to the word of the Lord came to that all of the law and the prophets, it's it's known as the word of God.
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So the Jews would have picked up on this concept immediately.
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Oh, you know what the purpose of words is?
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Words are to communicate something.
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Words are to be deliberately chosen and used to convey information to another person.
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That's what John is saying to the Jews.
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The Word became flesh.
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Jesus Christ is God's communication to man.
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a living, breathing word.
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So, God isn't some impersonal force.
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God's not a generic concept.
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According to God's word, He is a person.
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And He has revealed who exactly He is in Jesus.
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Let's just pause for a second.
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I'm going to ask that you would pray for me as we do this little study together that I would accurately represent God's Word.
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Let me pray for you to have a heart open to receive this absolutely essential truth that God is teaching us today.
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So let's pray.
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Father in heaven, we live in a culture that is fine to think of you in general terms, but to call you a person, a father, the sovereign of the universe, it's tough for some people to grasp.
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And I just pray, Father, today, especially over these next few minutes, that we would really have our hearts and minds open to what it is that Your Word wants to teach us about the way that You've revealed Yourself through Your Son. It's in Jesus' name that we pray.
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Amen.
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So on your outline, I want you to write some things down. I want to know God. Here's where it starts, number one, the reality.
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This is the reality.
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Jesus is God.
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Jesus is God.
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Let's look at these verses here.
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Look at verse one again.
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He says, "In the beginning was the Word, "and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." In the beginning, does that sound familiar at all?
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That phrase, in the beginning, where have we heard that?
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Genesis 1, 1, right?
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That's how the whole Bible starts.
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And John is starting in the same place.
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John is saying, by saying in the beginning, John is saying before anything was created, the Word existed.
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The Word, and notice he says two things about the Word.
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First of all, the Word was with God.
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And secondly, the word was God.
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First of all, let's talk about the word was God.
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This claim is nothing less than Jesus Christ is almighty God.
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This is all through the New Testament, all right?
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If we were to just do a Bible study today, looking at the verses of the New Testament that talk about Jesus being God, we would be here long after the snow melted, okay?
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But the New Testament is so full of this truth.
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Like for example, Colossians 2.9 says, "For in Him, in Jesus, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily." Most concise statement of Jesus' deity is probably right here in John 1.14.
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It says, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
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The Word became flesh and dwelt, dwelt, that word dwelt in the Greek is the word tabernacled.
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The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.
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You heard of the tabernacle?
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In the Old Testament, it was this portable structure that as Moses was leading the Israelites out of Egypt, God told Moses to build this structure and it had this tent with the holy place and the holy of holies.
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And this was the place where God's unique presence dwelt among his people.
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So when John says the word became flesh and tabernacled among us, if you were in the Old Testament times, if you lived with Old Testament Israel He said, "Hey, can you point to the place "where God's unique presence lives on the earth?" You would point to the building, the tabernacle.
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You would say, "Yeah, God's unique presence "on earth is right there." Fast forward to 2025, right now, if I were to say, "Can you point to the place "where God's unique presence dwells on earth?" Where would you point?
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It's right here, right?
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Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
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temple was just the permanent version of the tabernacle.
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This is where God lives.
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This is God's unique presence here.
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So what John is saying in John 1:14 is for about 33 years of earth's history, when you would ask, "Where is God's unique presence on the earth?" You'd point to a man, and that man's name is Jesus Christ.
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You would point to him and say, "Right there.
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That man is the unique presence of God on the earth.
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This is where he is.
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All right?
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Jesus is not an exalted angel.
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Jesus is not some special enlightened human.
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According to this verse, Jesus is the God.
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And every false religion denies this, by the way.
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And I can just tell you personally, you would be shocked at how many times I've had to have this conversation with people over the course of my ministry, but people who actually say, "Jesus never said He was God." You heard that argument?
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"Jesus never said it." What the argument is this.
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That's something the church kind of came up with.
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You know, we kind of, like some religions like us, we sort of hitched that idea onto Jesus, but Jesus himself, they say, "Oh, if you study the words of Jesus, he never said he was God." Well, do you remember back in Exodus chapter three, God called Moses through the burning bush.
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You know, you're gonna lead my people out of Egypt.
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You're gonna lead them to the promised land.
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And do you remember Moses says to God, "Well, what if Israel asks who sent me?
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What if Israel is like, what is his name?" Do you remember in that moment, God told Moses what his name is.
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You remember?
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God told Moses his name is I Am, who I am.
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That's God's name.
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His name is I Am.
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I love that.
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God didn't say to Moses, "My name is I Was." Like Moses, like, "What's your name?" And God's like, "Moses, I Was.
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"Oh Moses, you should have seen me back in high school.
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"Oh Moses, I was so good looking "and I was such a good athlete.
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"Back in the day Moses, back in the day "I was really something." No, he's not the I was.
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But nor did God tell Moses that he's the I will be.
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Right?
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Like Moses is like, "What's your name?" And God's like, "Well Moses, you tell the Israelites, "I might not be nothing special now, but I'm taking my vitamins and I'm drinking my milk and I'm doing my palates and I'm jumping on my pogo ball and someday, someday I'm going to be something great.
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I will be. God's not the I was and He's not the I will be. God is, He is I am.
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From eternity past, He is infinite, majestic holiness. He is the I am.
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and in eternity future, He will still be infinite, majestic holiness.
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He is the I Am.
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You're like, well, what does that have to do with Jesus?
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Because Jesus repeatedly claimed that He is the I Am.
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It's all through the Gospel of John, what, like seven times.
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I am the bread of life.
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I am the light of the world.
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I am the way and the truth and the life.
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I am the good shepherd.
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I am the door." All through Jesus made this claim.
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John chapter 8, Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I am." John chapter 10, Jesus said, "I and the Father are one." And in that moment, the Jews picked up stones, they were going to kill him for saying that.
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And Jesus says, "I did a lot of good works.
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For which of them are you going to stone me?" And they said, "Oh, no.
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You're making yourself out to be God the way you're talking." You see, they knew exactly what He was saying.
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They knew exactly what He meant when He said, "I and the Father are one." Oh, and by the way, not only does the Bible say that Jesus is God, did you know that the The Bible also says that God is Jesus.
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Here's what I mean, look at Zechariah 12, 10.
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This is before the incarnation, the Christmas story.
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This is before the baby in the manger story.
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This is Old Testament.
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Look at what God says.
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God says, "And I will pour out on the house of David "and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, "a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, "so that when they look on me, "On him whom they have pierced." Do you see how God identifies himself?
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He identifies himself as the one who was pierced, and who was the one that was pierced?
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It's Jesus Christ on the cross.
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Do you see that?
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Do a little word study there.
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That's exactly what he's saying.
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They will look on the one whom they've stabbed, right?
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It's also in the New Testament.
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God is Jesus.
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Look at Acts 20, for example.
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Paul says to the Ephesian elders, "Pay careful attention to yourselves to care for the church of God, which He obtained with His own blood." Who bought the church with His blood?
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He says God.
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You're like, "I thought it was Jesus that shed His blood." Paul's saying that as Jesus shed His blood, that was God obtaining the church with His own blood.
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So Jesus is God, yes, and the Bible also says that God is Jesus.
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The Word was God, but the Bible also says here that the Word was with God.
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The Word was with God.
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In case you missed it, in case you didn't quite catch it in verse one, verse two, he just says the exact same thing.
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He was in the beginning with God.
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So somehow Jesus is God, but being with God, somehow he is distinct from the Father.
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Yeah, like if I said to you, Yeah, yesterday I was with my buddy, Nathaniel, and I was my buddy, Nathaniel.
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You would say, were you and Nathaniel smoking something?
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Like what was going on there?
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That doesn't make sense, does it?
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How can you be with somebody and be somebody at the same time?
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But that's exactly what the Bible says about Jesus and his relationship with God.
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He's not only God, but He's also with God.
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And people want that explained all the time.
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We get, Pastor Taylor had that, well, a couple weeks ago, the little children's back there had like a Q&A thing with him.
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And wasn't that one of the questions they were asking about the Trinity?
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And look, do you wanna know about the Trinity?
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Here's the reality.
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Nobody can figure that out.
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That's the truth.
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You can't do it.
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Because from the moment you were born, you've only ever known two things in your life.
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Your whole life, you've only ever known two things.
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And that's time and space.
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You can't fathom an existence outside of time and space.
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This is where we are.
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And now we have a God who lives and exists and rules outside of time and space.
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God is not bound by time and space.
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And somehow we think that we're going to be able to explain everything about Him.
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Here's what I know.
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The Word was with God and the Word was God.
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The Bible says God exists.
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He's one God, but He exists as three persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
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Jesus is eternal, but distinct, and you don't have to explain it to believe it, okay?
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I can't explain to you how my car works, but I believe that it does when I get in and drive it.
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All right, look at verse three.
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He says, "All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made." Okay, this is just theology 101.
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It's all through the Old Testament.
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God is creator.
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And John here is saying Jesus is God, he's with God, and then John takes another step and says Jesus is creator, he made all things.
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And somehow, again, the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all involved in creation at the same time.
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You're like, can you explain that?
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I just told you I could not explain that.
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But somehow God the Father created through God the Son, and the Genesis tells us that the Spirit of God hovered above the waters.
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All three members of the Trinity were involved.
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And somehow Jesus is the agent of creation.
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The Bible says in Hebrews 1:2 that, "In these last days, God has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world." Through whom he created the world.
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That's all John's saying here in verse 3.
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Every living thing gets life from something else.
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A tree, your dog, a woodpecker, you.
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You got life from something else.
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The only person who has never received life from someone else is God Himself.
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That's what John's saying.
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Since Jesus already existed before creation, and because Jesus didn't get His life from something else, then He must be God.
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Those are the biblical facts about Jesus.
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And listen, even if you're sitting here today or listening to the podcast later or whatever, even if you don't agree with that, can we take an honest look at what the Bible says and stop trying to twist it?
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"Oh, it doesn't really say that." The Bible overwhelmingly says that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh.
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That's the truth that you have to reckon with.
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He is God.
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So if you want to know God, number two, the response.
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The response.
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You want to know God?
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The response is faith in Jesus.
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The reality is Jesus is God.
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The response is we have to have faith in Jesus.
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You see, God took the initiative.
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God did His part in revealing Himself as Jesus, so the question is, "What's my part in knowing Him?" It's faith.
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Faith is the only way to know God.
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Oh, and speaking of generic, not only do people use the name of God in a generic sense, but you'll find that people use the concept of faith in a generic sense.
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There is a true biblical sense and definition of faith, but we live in a culture that just throws that word "faith" around all the time and uses it in all kinds of ways.
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Here's what I mean.
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Some people use faith like it means wishful thinking.
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Faith is just wishful thinking.
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Like, "Well, I just kind of have faith "that everything's gonna work out." Like, what does that even mean?
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For some people, they think faith is just the way of the ignorant.
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Like, "Well, you believe in science, "or you believe in faith, rather.
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"I believe in science, and they're condescending.
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You're just some backwoods redneck.
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You're ignorant.
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I believe in science, but you have your little fairy tale faith.
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And still other people look at faith as some kind of ambiguous spirituality.
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You hear people say, "I'm a person of faith." Do you know who else is a person of faith?
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Literally everybody.
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Everybody believes in something.
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What is your faith in?
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Because you can have faith in the wrong thing.
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So listen, my friends, God is not a generic concept, and neither is faith.
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Faith is a specific disposition towards a specific person.
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That's why Hebrews 11:6 says, "Without faith, impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God," that's the knowing God piece, "whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him." It starts with obviously an acknowledgment of His existence, but it doesn't stop there.
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You have to seek Him.
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You have a responsibility.
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took the initiative, he revealed himself in Jesus, what is my responsibility in this relationship?
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Or how can I grow in knowing Jesus? I want you to jot these three things down. How can I grow in knowing Jesus? Letter A, you have to confess with your mouth. Romans 10.9 says, "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
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And you are not going to grow in your relationship with Him if you don't have one to begin with.
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So have you made that confession?
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Do you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sins, that He rose from the dead to give you eternal life?
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Do you believe that?
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People have this idea that, "Well, we're all children of God in the creative sense, yes, but not in the adoptive sense." Yes, we do all have a relationship with Jesus.
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The question is, do you have a good relationship with Him or a bad relationship with Him?
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You have to confess with your mouth.
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It has to start there, letter B.
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You have to hear the Word.
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You have to hear the Word.
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Romans 10:17 says, "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ." The only way your faith grows is through the Word of God.
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Because this is the only truly reliable source of information about Jesus because this is the source of information that was given to us by God.
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You have to be in the Word if you're going to know Jesus.
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Any relationship involves time and communication.
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And some people, they spend no time in His Word, no time praying His Word, and reading and studying and meditating, and they spend no time at all in the Word, and then they wonder why they feel so distant.
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Relationships grow when time is spent together.
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You need to prioritize spending time and praying the Word of God.
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And finally, letter C, "Keep His commandments." Keep His commandments.
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Jesus says in John 15.10, "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love." That's how you abide.
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It's through obedience.
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Now listen, if you're a Christian and you're in sin, sin is not going to end your relationship with Jesus, but you're obviously going to feel distant from God if you have unrepentant sin.
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Any area of disobedience in your life that you refuse to deal with, you're gonna feel distant, and that's not on God, that's on you.
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God hasn't gone anywhere.
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You have.
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So what is it in your life right now that you're like, I know, I know that this is what God wants me to stop doing or maybe something God wants you to start doing, but you know exactly what it is.
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You need to turn from that sin.
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You need to obey whatever Jesus is calling you to, and you're going to enjoy the freedom that repentance brings in your walk with Christ.
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This is what keeps people from coming to Christ in the first place, by the way.
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Jesus will take you just as you are, but he won't leave you that way.
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Jesus wants to transform you.
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He wants to change you.
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And some people just don't want to be changed.
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Keep His commandments.
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The Word became flesh.
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God became a man.
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Our worship team will come back up.
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You know, I came to Christ when I was 20.
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And it's an amazing thing to grow up in a church as a kid, and all those days, all those years sitting in the church, how little I really understood.
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But when I was led to Christ, this whole new world, right?
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And I remember I was trying to understand, and I had this Bible that my parents got me.
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You know, some Bibles have the little story inserts, little devotional things, like kind of built into the Bible.
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Well, this Bible had those, and it had this story in it.
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And the story goes something like this.
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There was this farmer and his wife, it was Christmas Eve, and the farmer's wife was going to church.
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And she asked her husband if he wanted to go with her.
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He goes, "No, I don't get that church stuff.
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"It doesn't, that makes no sense to me.
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"I'm not interested at all, but you go have fun." Well, she went to church, and while he was home, he saw that there were birds trying to get into his barn.
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This really bad deep freeze came over, kind of like what happened here.
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And these birds were trying to get in the barn, seeking shelter from the cold.
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The farmer says, "Well, I can help those birds." So he goes, "I'll just go out and open the door and let them in the barn.
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And when he went out there, you know what birds do, right?
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They just kind of scattered everywhere.
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The farmer's like, "Well, that sure didn't help anything." So he thought, "Well, maybe if I just leave breadcrumbs, "I can like guide them in there somehow." Didn't work.
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No matter what the farmer did, he couldn't get the birds into the barn to get shelter.
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And as the story goes, I don't think it's a true story, but as the story goes, he stood and looked out the kitchen window and he saw the birds back flying around the outside of the barn, not able to get in.
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And the farmer thought to himself, "Those birds are going to die.
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And as badly as I want to save them, I don't know how I can get them in the barn." But then the farmer had a thought.
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The farmer thought, "You know, if I could become a bird for like five minutes, I could approach them, they wouldn't be scared of me, I could speak their language, and I could and show them the way that they could be saved.
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And right when he had the thought, the story goes, off in the distance he heard the church's bells ringing.
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And that's when it connected.
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It's a dumb story.
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Admittedly, what I've got to tell you as a young Christian, When I read that, that's what made everything click for me.
42:23-42:26
Yes, that's the purpose of the incarnation.
42:27-42:35
That God became one of us to save us.
42:38-42:39
So what do you want for Christmas?
42:43-42:44
I wanna know God.
42:46-42:52
Not the generic knockoff, but the real person.
42:55-43:00
Because knowing God is eternal life.
43:02-43:07
We're going to have our elders and members of our prayer team up front here.
43:10-43:17
And in just a moment, Ashley's going to sing a song over you to have a good old-fashioned altar call.
43:18-43:20
You can stay in your seat, you can pray right where you are.
43:22-43:27
But I want you to know there's people that are up here that would love to pray with you and for you.
43:29-43:34
So as Ashley sings over you, we're going to invite you to come.
43:35-43:38
Maybe there's somebody here that today you're like, "You know what?
43:40-43:48
"I don't really know God, I know about Him, but I don't really have a relationship with Him.
43:50-43:50
Today's the day.
43:52-43:58
Today's the day that you can go from knowing about God to knowing God.
44:00-44:01
So please come.
44:05-44:21
Our Father in Heaven, we thank You for the way that You have demonstrated Your holiness and love by taking on flesh and blood.
44:25-44:30
Father, I pray against all of the distractions.
44:30-44:35
It's that time of year that there's more to do than we have time to do.
44:35-44:39
And there's so many things We're just vying for our attention.
44:43-44:52
Father, I pray that we would take a real close examination at the person of Jesus Christ and examine our own hearts.
44:53-44:55
Are we truly walking with Him?
44:55-45:04
Do we truly have a relationship with Him that we're spending time together and knowing and growing?
45:05-45:09
Or are we just churchgoers?
45:13-45:13
Father I thank You.
45:13-45:15
You've revealed Your heart.
45:15-45:16
You want us to know You.
45:18-45:20
You've done everything.
45:22-45:28
And have just simply called us to receive what You have accomplished.
45:32-45:33
Father, thank You.
45:35-45:45
We praise You and ask that You would continue to manifest Your goodness and presence in us by the power of Your Spirit through the wisdom of Your Word.
45:47-45:49
We praise You in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
45:51-45:51
Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read John 1:1-3

What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Why do you think the deity of Jesus is denied by so many cults? Why is that such a common point of contention?
How would you explain the Trinity to a 7 year old?
Define “faith”. Why do you think faith is the God-ordained way of knowing Him?
What’s your favorite dinosaur?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Jeff Miller

December 5, 2021

Knowing Jesus

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Restoration

Jeff Miller

December 5, 2021

Knowing Jesus

  
  Introduction:

  3 Things Jesus Calls Restored Failures to Do (John 21:1-25):

Care for His people. (John 21:15-17)
Follow Him to the end. (John 21:18-19)
    
Refuse to Compare yourself with others. (John 21:20-23)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:58-01:01
Open your Bibles with me please to John 21.
01:03-01:04
John 21.
01:07-01:11
Down this last stretch here, we see Jesus accomplished the purpose for which He came.
01:13-01:19
To die on the cross, to pay the penalty for our sins, and to raise from the dead to give us the promise of eternal life.
01:20-01:27
And in the day that Jesus resurrected, He appeared to His disciples, remember, without Thomas.
01:27-01:31
And then eight days later, appeared again, Thomas with them.
01:32-01:36
And in those meetings, Jesus left the disciples and us two things.
01:37-01:38
He said, "There's a mission.
01:39-01:47
You need to be empowered by the Spirit to deal with sin." That was last week's message.
01:48-01:55
But Jesus also left a blessing, and that's especially for us when Jesus said, "Blessed for those who haven't seen yet believe.
01:58-02:02
And truthfully the gospel could have ended in chapter 20.
02:05-02:08
But there's a major loose end that needs tied up here.
02:09-02:10
And that's Peter.
02:14-02:22
Remember back in chapter 18, Jesus was betrayed by one of his closest friends.
02:23-02:28
And he was arrested, heading to his darkest hour.
02:28-02:36
And Peter, the closest one to Jesus, by his own admission, denied three times that he even knew who Jesus was.
02:40-02:41
And yeah, Jesus shows up.
02:41-02:46
We saw last week, Jesus shows up and he gives the mission and tells him to receive the Holy Spirit and all of that.
02:47-02:51
And I think even though that happened, I think Peter was still wondering.
02:56-03:04
Yeah, that's all well and good, but these guys didn't mess up the way I messed up.
03:05-03:06
Right?
03:06-03:08
Look at verse 1 in chapter 21.
03:10-03:16
It says, "After this, Jesus revealed Himself again to the disciples by the sea of Tiberias.
03:17-03:19
And He revealed Himself in this way.
03:21-03:31
Simon Peter, Thomas called the twin, Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together.
03:34-04:05
Simon Peter said to them, 'I'm going fishing.' Him, we will go with you.' They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing." Okay, so we have seven disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and you're like, "Well, who are the two others? We don't know." The best guess is probably Andrew and Philip, but for some reason John didn't mention them. The interesting thing about that list, okay, There's seven of them.
04:05-04:12
Six of those disciples were the same disciples that were called back in chapter 1.
04:13-04:14
They were the first called.
04:15-04:21
You're like, "Who was the seventh?" Well, that was Thomas, who swore he was never missing another meeting.
04:24-04:39
So Peter says to them, "I'm going fishing." The others were like, "Okay, we're going with you." Now understand this, in the Greek, when Peter says, "I'm going fishing," this was more than just like passing time, like hobby.
04:40-04:41
This was more than that.
04:41-04:58
The Greek seems to indicate that this was a statement of finality, as in Peter was saying, "You know what guys, I'm going back to fishing." As in, "I don't know what to do now.
05:00-05:07
So I'm just going to go back to what I've known." Right?
05:08-05:12
I think Peter at this point, I think he thought he was done with ministry.
05:12-05:19
Jesus gave the call, but Peter's like, "Yeah, that's good for other people." But I blew it.
05:19-05:22
How could Jesus use someone like me?
05:23-05:24
Well, look at verse 4.
05:25-05:37
"Just as day was breaking," remember the fish caught nothing, "Just as the day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore, yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.
05:38-05:59
Jesus said to them, 'Children, do you have any fish?' They answered Him, 'No.' So like Mary Magdalene at the tomb, they didn't recognize Jesus." And Jesus' statement admittedly might have irritated them.
06:00-06:07
Because again, the way this is constructed in the Greek, literally, Jesus' question was anticipating the negative.
06:07-06:15
His question was literally this, "Hey, you guys didn't catch anything, did you?" Like, could you imagine being one of the fishermen?
06:15-06:18
You're out all night fishing, and there's some guy on the shore.
06:19-06:25
Like, "Hey, you guys didn't catch anything, did you?" "Who is that guy?" Well, hold on.
06:26-06:48
Verse six, "He said to them, "'Cast a net on the right side of the boat "'and you will find some.'" They were like, "You didn't think we thought about that?" But for some reason they obeyed because look, it says, "So they cast it, "and now they were not able to haul it in "because of the quantity of fish.
06:50-06:55
"The disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, "It is the Lord.
06:55-07:03
"When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, "he put on his outer garment," where he was stripped for work, "and he threw himself into the sea.
07:04-07:30
"The other disciples came in the boat, "dragging the net full of fish, "for they were not far from the land, "but about a hundred yards off." Okay, so John's like, when they get the miraculous catch, and John's like, "It's the Lord!" And Peter's like, "Cannonball!" And he just like jumps in and he's like, "There's no way John is beating me this time." All right, he might've beat me in the foot race, but swimming is my thing, all right?
07:31-07:47
So, racing to the shore, verse nine says, when they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place.
07:49-07:54
with fish laid out on it, and bread.
07:56-08:04
I've got to tell you, can you even wrap your brain around what that must have been like for Peter?
08:05-08:10
You're like, "What do you mean?" He gets on the shore, and there's a charcoal fire.
08:10-08:13
When was the last time we heard about a charcoal fire in John's Gospel?
08:15-08:32
John 18, servant girl, door girl, was like, "You know what his disciples are?" He said, "Peter." And Peter's like, "I have no idea who he is." And then Peter goes and he warms himself at a charcoal fire.
08:33-08:35
And now Jesus comes on the shore.
08:35-08:41
Here's Jesus crucified, resurrected, and He has a charcoal fire.
08:42-08:45
Do you think that reminded Peter of anything?
08:48-09:04
Verse 10, "Jesus said to them, 'Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.' So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore full of large fish, 153 of them.
09:06-09:08
And although there were so many, the net was not torn.
09:11-09:20
Jesus said, "I'm coming to have breakfast." Now, none of the disciples dared ask Him, "Who are You?" They knew it was the Lord.
09:22-09:36
Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish, this was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after He was raised from the dead.
09:38-09:40
Here's an interesting little tidbit I was studying this week.
09:40-09:44
were a particular kind of fish that they would have caught at the Sea of Tiberias.
09:45-09:49
And these fish would have weighed about two pounds each.
09:50-09:52
All right, so help me out math people.
09:53-09:59
153 fish at about two pounds each is how much fish are we looking at?
10:00-10:02
Okay, it's like over 300 pounds of fish.
10:05-10:10
You know, what's interesting is the whole group Couldn't haul them in, but it says Peter did himself.
10:12-10:14
Manly man, right?
10:16-10:24
So, they realize at this point, that's Jesus.
10:26-10:28
And it says they didn't ask and they know, they know.
10:31-10:36
And amazingly, your Bible says that Jesus provided for them.
10:38-10:41
He served them.
10:42-10:44
He provided breakfast for them.
10:46-10:57
And you know, at this point, as they were all gathered around the charcoal fire, you know what Peter had to be thinking about.
10:59-11:01
The unresolved elephant in the room.
11:04-11:06
We never addressed this, did we?
11:08-11:10
That Lord, I failed You.
11:14-11:16
Like inexcusably failed You.
11:18-11:20
I royally messed up.
11:21-11:24
And you know when the pressure was on, I showed.
11:24-11:26
I denied three times that I even knew who You were.
11:29-11:32
Anybody else here been there?
11:34-11:36
I imagine that some of you are here now.
11:38-11:48
That you have messed up so bad, or so repeatedly, that you feel like a spiritual loser.
11:50-11:56
Our sin and our failure just like, it crushes us.
11:56-11:58
And it is in our faces.
11:59-12:01
And we carry this guilt around.
12:02-12:03
and we're like, "I'm such a failure.
12:05-12:17
"God's surely done with me because I'm so weak "and I thought I was so strong, "but I'm a terrible Christian." What do we do about that?
12:20-12:22
Like Peter, we're paralyzed by the guilt.
12:24-12:39
And we're just ready, like Peter, to throw in the spiritual towel, and we're gonna go back to fishing, And we'll go back to whatever is familiar, because obviously we stink at following Jesus, and we don't know what we were thinking in the first place.
12:40-12:43
And Jesus must be so disappointed in me.
12:44-12:45
You ever felt that?
12:48-12:50
Well, we're gonna look at Jesus' response to that.
12:52-13:02
But I have to remind you of three foundational truths before we get into this restoration, because this is it.
13:04-13:13
Three foundational truths that you need to embrace to truly understand the restoration that Jesus brings Peter to here.
13:14-13:15
So I jot these down.
13:15-13:16
Letter A.
13:18-13:20
Three foundational truths you need to embrace.
13:20-13:23
Jesus knew you were going to fail before you did.
13:23-13:24
Okay?
13:24-13:26
So if you're sitting here today, and you're like, "I'm such a failure.
13:27-13:31
I can't believe I did that." Jesus knew you were going to fail before you did.
13:31-13:39
You remember Jesus told Peter exactly how he was going to fail before it happened.
13:39-13:40
You remember that?
13:43-13:53
But sometimes we get this mindset like we blow it and God must be shocked, right?
13:55-14:09
Like we royally messed up, and like some angel goes before the Lord and says, "Hey, you're not gonna believe what so and so did." And God's like, "What? He did what?" You think that your sin shocked God?
14:10-14:10
Really?
14:10-14:13
You think He didn't see it coming?
14:14-14:16
That's a strong stance to take.
14:18-14:23
Jesus knew you were going to fail, even before you did.
14:24-14:28
The letter B, foundational truth.
14:30-14:34
If you have received Jesus Christ, all of your sins are forgiven.
14:34-14:35
Even the bad ones.
14:35-14:37
Even the ones you haven't committed yet.
14:39-14:40
That is a fundamental truth.
14:43-14:50
We get this mindset again, "I received Christ, so now all of the sins I committed..." What's today's date?
14:51-14:52
Is this the 5th?
14:52-14:53
Is this the 5th?
14:54-14:55
Okay, we'll go with that.
14:56-15:00
All the sins I committed before December 5th, if I receive Christ today, all those are forgiven.
15:01-15:04
But if I sin on December 6th, I'm going to have to ask for forgiveness again.
15:04-15:05
That is not true.
15:07-15:11
When you receive Christ, you are in a position of being forgiven.
15:11-15:14
You are in a position of being not guilty.
15:15-15:16
You are pardoned.
15:16-15:17
And it doesn't matter.
15:19-15:21
And obviously as Christians, we don't want to sin.
15:21-15:22
We don't want to dishonor the Lord.
15:23-15:29
that your sin doesn't kick you out of the family, unadopt you, make you unborn again, it doesn't happen.
15:30-15:33
When you receive Christ, all of your sins are forgiven.
15:34-15:39
You stand in a state of no longer condemned.
15:42-15:45
And if you're struggling with that still, I want you to think, just think about it this way.
15:45-15:50
When Jesus was dying on the cross, how many of your sins were in the future from that moment?
15:51-15:53
All of them, right? All of them.
15:55-15:57
So all of your sins are forgiven if you're in Christ.
15:59-16:00
Even the ones you haven't committed yet.
16:04-16:07
Third foundational truth, letter C, today's the day to get back in the game.
16:08-16:10
Today's the day to get back in the game.
16:12-16:13
What are you waiting for?
16:14-16:23
If you're sitting here, or you're watching this stream, and you're like, "Yeah, I blew it." Someday, someday I'm going to get back on track with the Lord.
16:24-16:31
Someday, someday I'm going to get back to church and worship, I'm going to get back to reading my Bible someday.
16:31-16:33
I'm like, what are you waiting for?
16:37-16:38
Are you waiting for forgiveness?
16:40-16:42
Because Tetelestai, right?
16:42-16:42
It is finished.
16:43-16:44
That's been accomplished.
16:48-16:50
Today's the day to get back.
16:52-16:58
So knowing your outline, knowing His restoration, here's three things that Jesus calls restored failures to do.
17:01-17:07
Alright, with this as a foundation, three things Jesus calls restored failures to do.
17:07-17:08
Number one, care for His people.
17:10-17:11
Look at verse 15.
17:12-17:47
It says, "When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed My lambs." "Do you love Me more than these?" "More than these, what?" "More than these, what?" Well, some people think Jesus was talking about the fishing gear.
17:48-17:53
Because Peter went back to fishing, and Jesus was pointing at the nets and boats and all of that.
17:53-17:57
"Do you love me more than this stuff?" I don't think that's what He was talking about.
17:57-18:03
Some people say that Jesus was saying, "Do you love me more than you love the other disciples?" And I don't think that's what He was talking about either.
18:04-18:15
I think what Jesus was saying to Peter was, "Peter, do you love Me more than the other disciples love Me?" Like, why would he ask that?
18:18-18:26
Well, Matthew 26.33, you see it again. Mark 14.29, you see Peter elevated himself above the other disciples.
18:26-18:30
And he said, "Hey, even if they all fall away, Jesus, I never will.
18:32-18:38
They'll fail You, but not me." And Jesus is calling Peter back to that statement.
18:38-18:46
Like, "Hey, you love Me more than they do?" And I love Peter's response.
18:46-18:47
You see the humility.
18:50-18:53
He focuses on the Lord's knowledge, right?
18:56-18:58
He says, "Yes, Lord, You know.
18:59-19:10
You know that I love You." And Jesus says to him, "Feed My lambs." Obviously, He was saying, "Take care of My people.
19:11-19:12
Disciple people. Make disciples.
19:12-19:16
Carry out the mission of evangelism that I've called you to, Peter.
19:17-19:21
And My mission is loving and caring for people.
19:22-19:22
That's the mission.
19:24-19:31
And I want you to do that." And I guarantee you, Peter wanted the conversation to end right there.
19:32-19:34
Like, okay, got it.
19:36-19:37
But it didn't end there.
19:37-19:38
Look at verse 16.
19:42-20:13
Jesus said to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." He said to him, "Tend My sheep." He said to him the third time, Simon said of John, "Do you love me?" Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know everything.
20:14-20:26
You know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep." So Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him.
20:27-20:29
Do you think Peter caught the connection?
20:31-20:36
I denied you three times, and now you're asking me three times.
20:39-20:42
But there's a little nuance in the Greek that is worth mentioning.
20:43-20:46
You see, the Greek language, there are different words for love.
20:47-20:48
We're kind of limited in the English language.
20:49-20:52
We say "love," and we say "love" about everything, right?
20:52-20:55
I love my wife, I love my dog, I love hockey, I love pizza.
20:56-20:58
I don't love all those things the same way.
20:59-20:59
Right?
21:00-21:07
But there were different words for love in the Greek, and there are two words used here.
21:08-21:18
And it's the word "agape," which is the self-sacrificing love, the committed love, the "you before me" kind of love.
21:18-21:26
And then there's "phileo," which is like affection, like brotherly love.
21:26-21:31
"Valeo" is the kind of love you have for your friends that you don't have for a stranger.
21:31-21:49
"Oh, I like this guy, and he's my buddy, and I care about this guy." That's "valeo." And sometimes, these words are used synonymously, but in this context, there's a very clear distinction that's made.
21:51-21:53
And it helps us understand the conversation.
21:53-22:00
So if I can paraphrase by inserting the words, "agape," self-sacrificing love, "phileo," brotherly love or affection.
22:01-22:10
To paraphrase this conversation, literally in the Greek, Jesus says to Peter, "Peter, do you agape me?
22:12-22:25
Are you committed to me?" And Peter says, "Lord, you know I care about you." The second time, Jesus says, "Peter, do you have a God-baby?
22:25-22:51
Are you committed to me?" And Peter says, "You know that I care about you, Jesus." Then the third time, Jesus says, "Peter, do you care about me?" You see, when Jesus used the word that Peter used, Peter was grieved.
22:52-22:55
Peter was saying, "You know everything.
22:57-23:05
And obviously from my failure that you totally predicted, you know me better than I know myself, Jesus.
23:05-23:16
You know that I "faleo" you." Peter was so reluctant to make the claim of total commitment.
23:19-23:29
"Peter, do you agape me?" And Peter's like, "Yeah, you know, I swore that I was the most agape devoted disciple of all of them.
23:30-23:38
But we all saw that that wasn't true, didn't we?" Peter's saying, "All I can...
23:38-23:53
Phileo is, "That's all I got. I care about you. You know that I care about you, Lord." But I want you to see Jesus' plan to restore Peter was just one question.
23:55-23:57
And it's the most important question.
24:01-24:03
This is what we have to get to the heart of.
24:05-24:12
It's this, total agape committed love for Christ drives you to love Christ's people.
24:15-24:20
I just find it so fascinating that Jesus came here, obviously, to restore Peter.
24:21-24:26
I find it so fascinating the things that Jesus didn't do, that we would naturally do if that was us in a situation.
24:27-24:28
Like, what do you mean? I mean this.
24:29-24:33
Jesus didn't ask Peter if he was sorry.
24:33-24:34
Do you notice that?
24:37-24:40
Jesus didn't make Peter promise to never do it again.
24:40-24:46
Like if you want to get ministry, all right, well listen, you're going to stop this denying me stuff, all right?
24:46-24:46
You promise?
24:46-24:47
You promise?
24:48-24:49
You're not going to do this again?
24:51-24:51
He didn't.
24:54-24:56
Jesus didn't do those things.
24:56-24:57
He went right to the heart.
24:58-25:01
He said, "Listen, Peter, I got to ask you a question, man.
25:02-25:03
Do you love me?
25:05-25:07
He challenged Peter's love.
25:07-25:09
That was the question.
25:09-25:10
Like, why?
25:13-25:14
Because Jesus wants your heart.
25:17-25:21
Jesus knows if He has your heart, the rest of you is going to follow.
25:24-25:36
So for those of you who are feeling off track, not close with God right now, ashamed of yourself, I have a word for you from the Word of God, and that is this, Jesus loves you.
25:39-25:41
There is no question about that whatsoever.
25:42-25:47
God demonstrated His love once and for all.
25:47-25:48
He loves you.
25:52-26:02
Probably the only question that you need to ask yourself is, "Do you love Him?" That's what Jesus was driving at.
26:06-26:10
The same call to Peter is just as real to you.
26:12-26:12
Do you love Jesus?
26:15-26:16
Then feed His sheep!
26:17-26:18
Do you love Jesus?
26:20-26:30
You should show it by taking care of His people, by getting involved in ministry, by being plugged into a small group and pouring into people and investing in people's lives.
26:33-26:38
Be intentional about showing your love for Jesus by loving His people.
26:41-26:42
That's what Jesus called Peter to.
26:44-26:45
That's what He's calling you to today.
26:45-26:46
Do you love Him?
26:48-26:57
And you're like, "Yeah, you know what Jeff, I do, but I don't feel worthy." None of us are worthy!
26:58-26:58
Right?
26:58-27:01
And that's one of the most beautiful things about the gospel.
27:01-27:03
He makes you worthy.
27:05-27:11
And if you can't accept that, then you haven't really understood what happened on the cross.
27:14-27:19
For some of you, what you need to do is embrace His restoration.
27:19-27:21
You need to embrace His grace.
27:25-27:33
And absolutely, if you have wronged someone in whatever way you blew it, if you've wronged someone, you need to make restitution.
27:33-27:34
That's part of repentance.
27:35-27:35
Absolutely.
27:37-27:39
But it's time to end the pity party.
27:41-27:42
And get back on the mission.
27:43-27:49
"Oh, I failed, I messed up, I'm such a loser." Hey, we're all losers.
27:52-27:53
That's why Jesus died.
27:56-27:56
Back to the mission.
27:58-28:02
Knowing His restoration, three things Jesus calls restored failures to do.
28:04-28:08
First of all, He says, "Care for His people." Secondly, "Follow Him to the end." Follow Him to the end.
28:09-28:11
Look at verse 18.
28:14-28:16
Jesus, again, still speaking to Peter.
28:17-28:24
He says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted.
28:26-28:39
But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go." What in the world is he talking about?
28:41-28:43
Jesus' words there seem cryptic.
28:44-28:49
So thankfully for us, John clarified exactly what Jesus was talking about.
28:49-28:50
Look at verse 19.
28:50-28:56
John says, "This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.
28:58-29:09
After saying this, he said to him, 'Follow me.'" that Peter was going to give his life for the cause of Christ, glorifying God in His death.
29:11-29:17
History tells us that Peter was crucified upside down because he didn't feel worthy to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord.
29:20-29:23
And people believe that that's what Jesus is referring to here.
29:26-29:28
But you know this is full circle.
29:31-29:57
Three years prior to this event, Jesus showed up at the Sea of Galilee, or Tiberias if you prefer, and after providing this fisherman named Peter a miraculous catch of fish, after all night of not catching anything, Jesus told Peter to follow Him.
29:57-29:58
That's in Luke 5.
30:02-30:04
Fast forward three years later, right here.
30:06-30:07
The same sea.
30:09-30:11
Another miraculous catch of fish.
30:13-30:22
After another night of not catching anything, Jesus tells a fisherman named Peter to follow Him.
30:23-30:24
Do you see that?
30:25-30:29
Peter's story ends where it began.
30:30-30:39
Where Jesus shows up and says, "Follow me." I mean, he answered the call before, and now Jesus is calling Peter to recommit.
30:40-30:41
"Okay, I have big plans for you.
30:45-30:46
Follow me.
30:47-31:02
Led by the shepherd wherever he takes you." Jesus made it so clear in His ministry that being a disciple only means being willing to follow all the way.
31:03-31:05
That's the only kind of disciple there is.
31:06-31:07
And I think that's what Jesus was driving at here.
31:09-31:15
Jesus doesn't have any part-time disciples, no half-committed disciples, no temporary positions available.
31:16-31:19
To follow Jesus means you're willing to follow all the way.
31:21-31:22
the only kind of disciple there is.
31:24-31:44
Wherever he sends you, whether it's in your backyard or in your community or overseas, whatever happens to you, sickness, loss, tragedy, opposition, what are you gonna do?
31:44-31:44
You're gonna quit?
31:45-31:47
Oh, life got hard and I quit, really?
31:48-31:52
Where in the brochure did it say that life was going to be easy with or without Christ.
31:52-31:53
What are you going to do?
31:54-32:02
I'll tell you what, I'd rather face the difficulties of life with Christ than try to fend for myself.
32:05-32:09
You see, the difference between you and Peter is you weren't told how you're going to die.
32:11-32:14
I'm not sure I'd want to know, actually.
32:17-32:20
But what you have in common with Peter told how to live.
32:23-32:25
Jesus, notice He didn't promise Peter it would be easy.
32:29-32:41
He didn't say, "Follow me, Peter, for a Cadillac type faith, health and wealth." He says, "Hey, this is going to result in a brutal death for you.
32:41-32:46
Follow me." Jesus promises Peter and us that the road's going to be hard.
32:50-32:52
Do you love Jesus? Then you need to follow Him.
32:54-33:00
Every new call He places on your life has to be a new opportunity for you to renew your commitment to Him.
33:03-33:04
You've got to follow Him to the end.
33:06-33:09
Number three, refuse to compare yourself with others.
33:11-33:14
Three things Jesus calls restored failures to do.
33:15-33:19
Care for his people, follow him to the end, and refuse to compare yourself with others.
33:21-33:22
Look at verse 20.
33:26-33:41
Okay, so Jesus is like, "Follow me." Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved, that's John, following them, the one who had been reclining at the table close to him, and had said, "Lord, who is it that is going to betray you.
33:44-33:59
When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, "Lord, what about this man?" And if you listen really close, you can almost hear the sounds of the face palms from the other disciples when Peter said this to Jesus.
34:02-34:04
You get the scene, "Do you love me?
34:04-34:06
And you're gonna give your life for me.
34:06-34:09
And I want you to follow me and cue the music.
34:10-34:29
And then you hear the needle scratching across the record when Peter's like, "But what about this man?" And all the other disciples were like, "What about this man?" Do you remember, Peter, the last time that you were comparing yourself to the other disciples?
34:29-34:34
"Even if they fall away, I never will." Remember how that worked out?
34:37-34:43
and you still have your eyes on what the other disciples are doing.
34:46-34:46
Wow.
34:48-35:01
Well, Jesus, verse 22 says, "Jesus said to him, 'It is My will that he remain until I come.'" What is that to you?
35:04-35:05
You follow Me.
35:07-35:09
What did Jesus mean by that?
35:09-35:12
"If it is My will that he remain until I come." Is this some...
35:12-35:14
Did He mean like in a spiritual sense?
35:14-35:16
Is He talking hypothetically?
35:16-35:17
Well we know what He didn't mean.
35:17-35:33
Verse 23, "So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die." Yeah, Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but "If it is My will that he remain until I come." What is that to you?
35:34-35:35
Okay, so John clarifies.
35:37-35:43
Because people misunderstood what Jesus said, and he thought it meant that John was going to live until the second coming of Christ.
35:45-35:55
Well, here's the thing, if you're so fixated on what Jesus meant by that statement, then you missed the point.
35:57-35:59
And Jesus' point was simply this.
36:01-36:27
do with John is none of your business. You follow me. But what about... I got my own thing happening with John. You don't worry about that. You, you follow me. And before we pick on Peter, we all do it.
36:28-36:34
We get so much more interested in other people's journey with Christ than our own.
36:37-36:40
Whether it's good or bad, positive or negative, we do this.
36:40-36:42
We get fixated on other people's walks.
36:43-36:44
We do it all the time.
36:46-36:53
So much more concerned about whether or not somebody else is following Jesus than we're We're not looking at, am I following Jesus?
36:57-37:00
We hear so much like Peter here.
37:02-37:03
I hear this all the time.
37:03-37:07
They're like, "Hey, Pastor Jeff, did you see this church down the road?
37:08-37:11
They're basing their entire Christmas sermons.
37:11-37:13
They're Christmas, they were advertising.
37:13-37:16
They're basing their entire Christmas sermons on Michael Jackson songs.
37:17-37:21
Like, what do you think about that?" Like, I really don't care.
37:23-37:26
What that church is doing has nothing to do with me, right?
37:27-37:27
Not my business.
37:29-37:32
There's only one church that I'm really concerned about, and it's this one.
37:36-37:43
Jesus says, "You follow me." And some of you are like, "Well, what about the sex abuse in the Catholic church?" Pray for them.
37:46-37:48
But that has nothing to do with your walk, does it?
37:50-37:57
Jesus says, "You follow me." Somebody would say, "Well, what about my husband?
37:57-38:02
He doesn't go to church, he doesn't seem interested." And I would say, "Well, Jesus will deal with him.
38:03-38:12
And Jesus is dealing with you when he says, 'You follow me.'" And I just, I've heard this so many times.
38:13-38:22
You know, that preacher on TV did this, and I went to this church, and it was scandalous, and the pastor did this and he was, and they're all hypocrites.
38:22-38:29
And somehow people use that as justification to not follow Christ personally.
38:30-38:31
Like, why don't you follow Christ?
38:31-38:33
Because I saw some TV preacher did this.
38:33-38:34
What?
38:35-38:36
Who gives a rep?
38:38-38:39
There's hypocrites everywhere.
38:41-38:43
And when you do that, you're just like Peter.
38:44-38:46
Oh, what about this guy?
38:47-38:51
And Jesus says to you, just what He says to Peter, "Hey, not your business.
38:53-38:57
You follow me." Because here's the reality.
38:59-39:09
If you're gonna start comparing yourself to other people, you are always going to find somebody further down the road than you, more mature than you, has their act together a little bit better than you.
39:09-39:11
You're always gonna find that person.
39:12-39:22
And you'll, "Oh, I'm never gonna be as good as that guy." And you're always gonna find somebody that is dishonoring Christ and making a mockery of the faith.
39:22-39:23
You're always gonna find that guy too.
39:26-39:29
And their journey has nothing to do with you.
39:30-39:36
Comparing yourself with someone else is pointless because God has a plan for you and your journey.
39:37-39:42
And the only person that you need to worry about, are they following Jesus?
39:42-39:42
That's you.
39:44-39:46
You need to worry about you, all right?
39:47-39:48
So have you blown it?
39:49-39:49
Did you get off track?
39:49-39:53
Do you feel guilty that you failed Christ in some way?
39:53-39:54
Well, listen, you're forgiven.
39:55-39:58
Tetelestai, your sins have been paid for.
40:01-40:06
You need to get back to one thing, and that's asking yourself this, do I love Jesus Christ?
40:08-40:08
Do I love him?
40:12-40:12
Well, then prove it.
40:14-40:15
He proved his love for you.
40:15-40:17
What are you doing to prove your love for him?
40:18-40:19
Get back on the horse.
40:20-40:21
Care for his people.
40:22-40:24
Be faithful no matter what happens.
40:25-40:27
And stop comparing yourself to others.
40:29-40:31
As Jesus says to you today, "Do you love me?
40:36-40:38
"Follow me." Last two verses here.
40:40-40:45
Says, "This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things and who has written these things.
40:46-40:48
And we know that his testimony is true.
40:50-40:53
Now there are also many other things that Jesus did.
40:53-40:55
Were every one of them to be written?
40:56-41:01
I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
41:03-41:09
So John's gospel is completed, though he could have written a whole lot more.
41:12-41:14
But the story of Jesus is far from over.
41:17-41:18
Because that story includes you.
41:20-41:21
Yes, you.
41:23-41:24
Even if you messed up.
41:26-41:28
Even if you messed up really bad.
41:30-41:32
Let Jesus restore you.
41:34-41:35
Because you've got some sheep to feed.
41:36-41:38
Alright? Let's pray.
41:39-41:46
Father in heaven, we thank you for the grace in which we stand.
41:50-41:59
That if we're truly being honest, there's not a person in this room or watching this stream that deserves anything from you.
42:00-42:02
And you've given us everything.
42:05-42:27
Every single one of us should stand eternally condemned for the way that we've dishonored you with horribly wicked thoughts, harsh words, deceptive actions, hateful conduct, that you put our sin on your son.
42:30-42:33
And oh, like Peter, we still mess up.
42:33-42:36
And like Peter, we still wonder if we should just go back to doing things our old way.
42:39-42:41
But we see Jesus still pursue us.
42:44-42:54
So Father, I want to pray specifically for the person who maybe feels like they've messed up so badly that there's no possible way you're ever going to do anything with them.
42:56-43:04
I pray, Father, You would bring to their heart and mind the path of restitution and repentance needs to look like if they've wronged anyone.
43:04-43:13
But Father, I pray that they would embrace the reality that all of our sins are forgiven in Christ.
43:16-43:18
And it's Your desire to bring us to a better place.
43:22-43:23
I pray, Father, they wouldn't delay.
43:26-43:33
Let your Spirit press on them the urgency of getting back, defeating your sheep.
43:36-43:38
I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read John 21:1-25

What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
Why did Jesus ask Peter three times if Peter loved Him (John 21:15-17)? Why was Peter grieved (John 21:17)? What does this conversation teach us about the Lord's restoration of a failure?
What was Jesus telling Peter to do when He said “Feed my lambs / Tend my sheep” (John 21:15-17)? What is this commanding us to do, ie, how do we fulfill that?
Why did Peter ask about John (John 21:21)? Why do we tend to compare our walk with Christ with someone else's? Why is this foolish?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Jeff Miller

November 28, 2021

Knowing Jesus

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Resurrection - Part 2

Jeff Miller

November 28, 2021

Knowing Jesus

Introduction:

Answers from an Empty Tomb (John 20:19-31):

A Mission . (John 20:21)
John 17:18 - As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

Two Ways We are Sent Like Jesus:

You are sent in the Power of the Sirit . (John 20:22)
Genesis 2:7 - then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature

Acts 1:8 - But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
You are sent to Deal with Sin . (John 20:23)
Matthew 16:19 - I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

A Blessing . (John 20:24-29)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

01:05-01:21
Last week we saw the empty tomb, and we talked about the evidence of the empty tomb, we talked about the significance of the empty tomb, and we saw, like Mary, how your sorrow will turn to joy when you turn to the resurrected Christ.
01:22-01:32
And it's interesting that, speaking of the resurrection of Jesus, the first person to see Jesus alive was Mary Magdalene.
01:33-01:36
Now I gotta be honest with you, that's not how I would have done it.
01:37-01:54
If I would have done it, I would have had the resurrected Jesus first show up at the Sanhedrin and say, "Do you believe now who I said I am?" And then I would have gone to Herod's place.
01:56-02:02
And I would have said, "Look." Then I would have stopped off at Pilate's place, right?
02:02-02:04
I have this whole thing in my mind.
02:04-02:11
But you know, God didn't really ask my opinion on any of this.
02:12-02:19
Obviously, God's wisdom surpasses my wisdom by an infinite margin.
02:20-02:24
And God often does things I really don't expect.
02:25-02:35
Like, the first person to resurrect Jesus showed up to reveal Himself to was, in the world's eyes, a nobody.
02:36-02:37
Honestly.
02:38-02:40
But to God, somebody very significant.
02:40-02:47
Well, the disciples were not expecting a resurrection.
02:47-02:49
We talked about that.
02:49-02:58
They were told over and over and over, Jesus said, "I'm going to be handed over to evil men, I'm going to be crucified, I'm going to be raised on the third day." And it's just always right over their head.
02:59-03:00
They missed it.
03:02-03:05
And we saw last week, they knew Jesus' body was gone.
03:05-03:06
They didn't understand what it meant.
03:06-03:08
They didn't understand what it meant to them.
03:08-03:09
We saw that in verse nine.
03:10-03:20
So finally, here in the passage you were looking at today, Jesus reveals to the group of disciples that he did, in fact, rise from the dead.
03:22-03:35
To understand sort of what's happening in this passage, I want you to think, like, you know how, like, when parents will go away for a few days and leave the kids behind.
03:36-03:41
Now, some of you parents have kids old enough where you've had to give the little speech, right?
03:42-03:46
And some of you are kids here that have had parents give you that speech.
03:46-03:51
Maybe some of you are young enough that you remember back when your parents had to give you that speech.
03:51-03:54
But the parents have to go for a few days, and they're leaving.
03:54-03:55
and like, okay, I'm coming back.
03:56-04:00
But you know the little speech your parents give you, the last instructions before they leave.
04:02-04:03
You know what I'm talking about?
04:04-04:04
I can start over.
04:05-04:09
Look, this is the introduction that I wrote, we're going with this one, all right?
04:11-04:13
But you know what I'm talking about, right?
04:13-04:16
The parents are like, look, I'm gonna be back soon.
04:17-04:18
No wild parties.
04:19-04:20
Do your chores.
04:22-04:23
Take care of your sister.
04:24-04:25
You know what I'm talking about?
04:26-04:28
You're like, no Jeff, I don't leave my kids behind.
04:30-04:34
All right, well, maybe you know somebody that has.
04:35-04:40
But it's sort of the same thing happening here on a more grand level.
04:41-04:42
Jesus is leaving soon.
04:44-04:47
And in this passage we're looking at, he has the disciples assembled.
04:47-04:50
And these are sort of the last instructions.
04:51-04:52
He's like, I'm leaving and I'm coming back.
04:52-04:56
And by the way, here's what you need to be working on while I'm gone.
04:59-05:00
Very important things he was leaving them with.
05:00-05:02
Look at verse 19.
05:02-05:18
It says, "On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, 'Peace be with you.' When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
05:20-05:23
the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
05:23-05:25
So this is Sunday evening, right?
05:25-05:28
The same evening when Jesus resurrected.
05:29-05:33
And your Bible says the disciples, they locked themselves in.
05:33-05:34
They were afraid they were next.
05:34-05:36
Okay, they just crucified the Lord.
05:36-05:37
They're going to come after us.
05:38-05:41
So they kind of barricaded themselves in the room, right?
05:42-05:46
And Jesus just, he just shows up.
05:48-05:52
Even though the doors were locked, all of a sudden, Jesus is standing there.
05:54-05:54
And what does he do?
05:54-05:58
He proves his bodily resurrection to the disciples.
05:59-05:59
Did you see that?
06:00-06:02
He shows them the crucifixion wounds.
06:02-06:05
Look at my hands and look at my side.
06:06-06:10
This is the same body that was put in the tomb and it is resurrected.
06:12-06:17
I don't know, I kind of chuckled just kind of reading this and studying this this week.
06:17-06:25
It says, "Then the disciples were glad "when they saw the Lord." I'm like, could that not be like the understatement of the millennium?
06:26-06:29
It's like, oh, you rose from the dead, well I'm glad.
06:32-06:40
Okay, the reason it's worded that way is because when you study the other gospels, initially they were terrified, which I totally get that.
06:40-06:48
But John here is adding, they weren't just terrified, There was actually some excitement about that.
06:48-06:51
But we see here that this wasn't just a quick hello.
06:52-07:04
Jesus, like the parents leaving for a while and coming back, Jesus wanted to leave the disciples, them and us, with two things in light of his resurrection.
07:04-07:07
So jot this down if you're taking notes, which we always encourage.
07:07-07:10
Here's two things that Jesus left us.
07:11-07:11
All right?
07:12-07:13
Two things Jesus left us.
07:13-07:14
Number one, write this down.
07:15-07:16
He left us a mission.
07:16-07:20
This is Jesus' last charge to the group of the disciples.
07:20-07:24
This is, in John's Gospel, this is the Great Commission.
07:25-07:25
All right?
07:26-07:27
You're gonna see that here in a second.
07:27-07:35
And this is to all the disciples, to them and to us, and Jesus gives a three-verse sermon.
07:36-07:39
And you're like, man, Pastor Jeff, why can't you be more like Jesus?
07:42-07:43
I'm a work in progress like you.
07:44-07:46
But a three verse sermon, all right?
07:46-07:47
Look at verse 21.
07:47-07:52
It says, "Jesus said to them, again, "'Peace be with you.
07:53-08:00
"'As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.'" Does that sound familiar at all?
08:01-08:15
Actually, in John 17, Jesus, high priestly prayer before the betrayal and arrest and crucifixion, Before all of that, Jesus was praying very specifically to his father.
08:15-08:21
He says, "As you sent me into the world, "so I have sent them into the world." We can't miss this.
08:22-08:23
Why was Jesus sent?
08:25-08:31
Jesus says he's sending us the way he was sent, so we have to ask, why was he sent?
08:33-08:35
He was sent to save the lost, wasn't he?
08:36-08:39
Wasn't Jesus sent to bring salvation to sinners like us?
08:40-08:41
Isn't that why he came?
08:42-08:43
Pretty clear.
08:44-08:46
But let's look a little deeper.
08:47-08:59
Because Jesus said, "As the Father sent me," not just for the same purpose, in the same way that the Father sent me, that is the way that I am sending you.
09:00-09:01
Like, what do you mean?
09:01-09:02
Here's what I mean.
09:03-09:07
When you study your Gospels, We've been going through John for the last three years.
09:08-09:09
I'm sure you've noticed this.
09:09-09:13
Jesus saw his whole life as always being on mission.
09:13-09:14
You notice that?
09:16-09:19
Jesus never deviated from the message.
09:21-09:25
Jesus never talked about early sabbatical or retirement.
09:25-09:29
Jesus never let frustration sideline him.
09:29-09:32
He's like, "Look, I'm here for a mission.
09:32-09:33
"I'm here to glorify God.
09:33-09:39
I'm here to bring the message of salvation, and nothing is going to derail me from that.
09:40-09:42
His whole life on mission.
09:44-09:48
And I have to ask you, do you see yourself on mission?
09:50-09:51
Listen to me church.
09:51-10:02
Are you constantly, actively, conscious of the fact that God wants to reach lost people through you.
10:03-10:06
Is that something that you carry with you 24/7?
10:08-10:15
If yes, then you're being sent by Jesus the way the Father sent Him.
10:16-10:19
If no, then you missed something.
10:22-10:28
And I think we, especially in our culture, I think we tend to compartmentalize our lives.
10:29-10:30
You know what I mean by that?
10:32-10:35
I mean when I'm at work, I'm the worker.
10:35-10:38
And when I'm home, I'm husband and dad.
10:38-10:44
But when it comes to the religious stuff, that's church, right?
10:44-10:49
All the Jesus and prayer and Bible stuff, that's Sunday morning.
10:50-10:52
And that's small group.
10:52-10:56
But I don't take that stuff with me to work.
10:56-10:59
And I don't really make a big deal of that stuff at home.
10:59-11:01
We have these little compartments.
11:05-11:20
When the reality is, if we are sent by Jesus the way the Father sent Him, that means you are on mission every single day, listen to me, in every arena in which the Lord places you.
11:21-11:24
You are the missionary.
11:27-11:28
in your workplace.
11:30-11:33
Like man, those people could use some Jesus down where I work.
11:34-11:34
Well, guess what?
11:34-11:36
They have a missionary there.
11:36-11:37
It's you.
11:38-11:39
God has you there.
11:42-11:44
For His light to shine through.
11:45-11:49
Like man, I just wish my home was more about seeking the Lord.
11:49-11:50
Guess what?
11:51-11:52
God has a missionary in your home.
11:53-11:53
And that's you.
11:55-12:00
What would our church look like if everybody here embraced that?
12:00-12:08
If everybody here was like, "I'm embracing the mission that Jesus is sending me, the way the Father sent Him." What would this church look like?
12:09-12:15
I guarantee you we wouldn't be meeting in here unless we went to like six services immediately.
12:17-12:24
But sadly, too often, Christians, we just do the Christian thing in our holy huddle, right?
12:26-12:28
I came across a great quote this week.
12:28-12:30
Great because it was like super convicting.
12:31-12:41
Somebody said, "Christians are like people with colds sneezing on each other." Nobody's catching it because everybody got it.
12:42-12:43
Jesus gave us a mission.
12:44-12:46
He's sending you out the same way He was sent out.
12:48-12:52
You're like, "Well, how was He sent?" Well, He elaborates on this three-verse sermon.
12:53-13:00
"Two ways we are sent like Jesus." Underneath the mission, letter A, "You are sent in the power of the Spirit." Look at verse 22 with me.
13:01-13:03
"You are sent in the power of the Spirit.
13:03-13:11
And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'" Stop there.
13:13-13:16
It says, "He breathed on them." Does that sound familiar at all?
13:18-13:20
That sound like a callback to Genesis 2?
13:21-13:22
Remember Genesis 2?
13:22-13:32
It says the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living creature.
13:33-13:39
See, the first man, Adam, became a living being when God breathed the breath of life into him.
13:41-13:53
And in a parallel sense, now we have God breathing the breath of life into those who will be born again, right?
13:55-14:04
Right now, maybe you're asking the same question that I asked this week, and I spent a lot of time studying.
14:06-14:10
You're like, "Well, what exactly happened in this passage?
14:11-14:14
Because I thought the Holy Spirit didn't come until Pentecost, right?
14:15-14:17
Acts chapter two, 40 days later.
14:18-14:20
So what exactly was happening here?
14:21-14:22
Like, that's a really good question.
14:25-14:26
What did happen here?
14:26-14:27
Well, look again.
14:29-14:42
It says, "Jesus, He breathed on them "and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'" And the actual act of receiving the Spirit did not happen in this moment.
14:43-14:45
This was the announcement.
14:46-14:49
Pentecost was the fulfillment.
14:51-14:56
And you're like, "Well, how do we know that?" Again, good question. Here's how we know that.
14:58-15:03
First of all, all John says is Jesus made this statement, right?
15:03-15:09
You don't see anything in the text indicating that this was the moment that it actually happened.
15:10-15:13
But the Bible is crystal clear when it actually did happen.
15:13-15:15
Acts chapter 2, Pentecost, 40 days later.
15:18-15:28
But another interesting thing is if this is the moment that they receive the Holy Spirit, why does Jesus, in Acts chapter 1, verse 8-- you know Acts 1, 8?
15:29-15:32
Because some of us here, we spent a whole year on this verse.
15:32-15:35
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.
15:35-15:39
And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
15:40-15:41
Excuse me, the end of the earth.
15:43-15:48
Jesus said this right before His ascension, and it was after this event here.
15:48-15:53
Why did He promise them the Holy Spirit if they already received the Holy Spirit?
15:55-16:09
And another reason, I believe, that this was the announcement, Pentecost was the actual fulfillment, is this - when the Holy Spirit comes in Acts 2, the Bible says that the disciples were completely transformed.
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And in this passage, they weren't transformed at all, yet.
16:18-16:24
Because we're going to see in verse 26, eight days later after this event, where are the disciples?
16:25-16:30
They're again holed up in a locked room, barricaded, scared, afraid, no comfort, no peace.
16:32-16:37
We don't see the Holy Spirit transforming them here in the way that happened at Pentecost.
16:37-16:47
So I believe for all of those reasons that Jesus was simply here announcing the coming of the Holy Spirit and preparing them.
16:50-16:51
And you see there's a definite parallel here.
16:54-16:57
Because Jesus' ministry began when?
16:59-17:02
When the Holy Spirit descended upon Him like a dove, right?
17:02-17:03
Right after His baptism.
17:05-17:11
Our ministry begins when by faith in Jesus the Holy Spirit comes and entwels us.
17:14-17:19
It's important that Jesus mentions this here because this is truly the only way our ministry is effective.
17:22-17:31
Without the Holy Spirit guiding us and empowering us and teaching and loving people through us you see we can make a lot of things happen.
17:31-17:35
We have the talent and creativity and people network stuff in this room.
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We can make a lot of stuff happen.
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But if what's happening here isn't powered by the Holy Spirit and directed by the Holy Spirit, if the Holy Spirit isn't behind the work happening here, it's not going to matter for eternity.
17:54-17:59
So Jesus is reminding here, to do the mission, you have to receive the Holy Spirit.
18:01-18:11
sent in the power of the Spirit. Another way that we're sent like Jesus, write this down, letter B, you're sent to deal with sin. You're sent to deal with sin.
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Like whoa, what do you mean deal with sin? Because didn't Jesus pay the penalty once for all for sin, right? It is finished. Tetelestai, right Matt? Call Tetelestai.
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So like what do you mean we got to deal with sin? Look, yes, it is finished. But Verse 23, He says, "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them.
18:36-18:44
If you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld." Like, what in the world is He talking about here?
18:46-18:50
Well, this verse has been extremely misunderstood.
18:52-19:02
In fact, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that this verse means the priest has the ability to grant forgiveness or to withhold forgiveness.
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You go to confession, you confess your sins, and it's up to the priest as to whether or not you're good with God or not.
19:11-19:42
And I knew a lady one time who told me she had a really rough background and she was really trying to get her life on track with the Lord and she went to this Catholic church and she went to the confessional and she said, "Hey, I've made a lot of mistakes "and I really messed things up and I'm trying to get my life on track with God, and I just want to know if I can be forgiven." And the priest said to her, "No." He said, "You are a..." I'm not going to repeat the word, but it's a very derogatory word for women.
19:42-19:53
He said, "You are a blank, and there is no forgiveness for you." And she walked out of that church going, "What am I supposed to do?
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I thought that I could go to God and He would change things.
19:59-20:02
And the priest sent me on my way and said I can't be forgiven.
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That is a gross misinterpretation of this verse.
20:09-20:12
You're like, "Well, what does it mean?" It means this.
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This is so important. Please mark this down.
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It means by the power of the Spirit, We have the authority to declare God's message.
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That's what this means.
20:28-20:32
Now understand the Bible was not written in English, right?
20:33-20:42
We have Hebrew and Greek and Aramaic, and specifically here as we're talking about Greek, there were different figures of speech and things that we don't understand.
20:46-20:52
When we just read certain verses like this, We have to dig a little deeper.
20:54-20:57
Back in Matthew 16, verse 19, Jesus said this to Peter.
20:58-21:01
He said, "I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven." Look at this.
21:01-21:18
He says, "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." And this is the exact same thing here that Jesus said to Peter back in Matthew 16.
21:20-21:28
What he's saying is this, you are authorized to repeat the message of heaven.
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Meaning we have the authority to declare forgiveness and unforgiveness.
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It can be translated this way, literally, those who sins you forgive have already been forgiven.
21:45-21:48
Those who sins you do not forgive haven't been forgiven.
21:49-21:51
We have the authority to announce it.
21:51-21:53
We do not have the authority to make it happen.
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Like I don't understand.
21:57-21:58
It's just simply this.
21:59-22:12
Somebody comes to me, and they're like, "You know, I've really made a mess of things in my life, and I want to get right with God." And I share the gospel with them and say, "Look, God sent His Son to die on the cross for your sins.
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He rose from the dead to give you eternal life.
22:14-22:20
He calls you to turn from your sin and to receive Him." And the person says, "You know what? I want to do that.
22:21-22:23
I'm turning from my sin.
22:23-22:39
I want to pray right now to receive the gift." So I pray with that person, and I can say to them, "Your sins are forgiven." And somebody might say, "What gives you the authority to say something like that?" Right here, this is exactly what Jesus is talking about.
22:40-22:47
He's like, "I'm giving you the authority to declare heaven's message." But the other side of the coin is true too.
22:47-22:58
If somebody comes to me, or I go to them and say, "Hey, you need to receive Jesus Christ "for the forgiveness of sin, because He's the only way." And they're like, "Not interested.
22:59-23:00
"Not interested in Jesus or Bible.
23:00-23:01
"I'm gonna live life my way.
23:01-23:12
"I do things on my own terms." Then I say, "Well, there's no forgiveness for you." And the best thing you have to look forward to is an eternity separated from God.
23:14-23:22
And somebody might come along and say, "What gives you the right to say something like that?" Jesus right here, that's exactly what He's talking about.
23:23-23:25
I have the authority, and so do you.
23:26-23:32
Under Jesus Christ we have the authority to repeat Heaven's message, saying if you receive Jesus, yes, you're forgiven.
23:32-23:34
And if you reject Him, there's no forgiveness.
23:36-23:37
Who do you think you are saying that?
23:37-23:38
Well, Jesus made it happen.
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I want you to see here, getting beyond the technical explanation, I want you to look at the subject matter.
23:50-23:53
So Jesus tells the disciples, "Look, you're going to be powered by the Holy Spirit.
23:53-23:58
For what purpose?" He says it's to deal with sin, right?
24:00-24:09
So why are so many churches and Christians, why are they so content to avoid talking about sin and instead let's focus on something else?
24:09-24:12
I don't get it. I mean, I kind of get it, but I don't get it.
24:14-24:28
I've heard pastors say very proudly, "We don't talk about sin at our church because we don't want people to feel bad." And look, I love you guys.
24:29-24:34
And when we remodeled, we bought the most comfortable chairs that we could find.
24:36-24:39
But I love you in the Lord, but I gotta tell you, that's all the further I care about.
24:39-25:02
your comfort. I don't care if you're not comfortable here. In fact I think here you should be uncomfortable and leave here going you know the Holy Spirit wants me to make some changes in my life I'm not honoring God in certain ways but so many churches we just want you to be comfortable what can we do to make you happy what can we do to make you feel good about yourself.
25:05-25:07
Jesus said that's not why I'm sending you out.
25:08-25:12
He didn't say I'm sending you out by the power of the Holy Spirit to make people feel good about themselves.
25:14-25:15
It's about sin, right?
25:16-25:27
Some churches focus on other things, social justice, let's talk about the economy or education, or let's do our eighth sermon in a row about COVID or whatever.
25:30-25:31
What are we doing?
25:35-25:42
I mean, could Jesus be more clear on the subject matter that we are to address?
25:45-25:49
Our job is to minister the gospel and deal with guilt and sin.
25:50-25:51
That's the mission.
25:52-25:52
Period.
25:55-25:57
Jesus didn't leave much wiggle room there.
25:59-26:01
So we're empowered by the Holy Spirit to deal with sin.
26:03-26:38
finally today two things Jesus left us he left us a mission empowered by the Spirit dealing with sin secondly he left us a blessing and this is specifically for us this is for us and I don't mean in a general generic term I mean us I mean us all right so the scene then turns to Thomas you remember Thomas He shows up a couple of times in John, and we learn a little bit about his personality.
26:39-26:46
Remember in John chapter 11, Jesus is like, we're gonna go raise Lazarus from the dead, and the disciples were like, oh Jesus, you got a big target on your back.
26:47-26:48
I'm paraphrasing here.
26:48-26:52
And then remember Thomas was like, let's go that we might die with him.
26:53-26:53
Remember that?
26:54-26:56
Well, Jesus is gonna die, let's die with him.
26:58-27:00
Like, inspiring little pep talk.
27:00-27:04
And then we see Thomas again in John chapter 14.
27:05-27:23
Remember Jesus said, "I'm going to prepare a place for you "and I'm gonna come again, I'm gonna take you, "you're gonna be with me." And Jesus says, "You know the way where I'm going." And Thomas is like, "We don't know the way "where you're going, how can we know the way?" As we see Thomas, and we're gonna see it again here, Thomas was very loyal.
27:24-27:30
And he was sometimes outspoken, And I think he sort of erred on the pessimistic side.
27:31-27:32
Look at verse 24.
27:33-27:42
It says, "Now Thomas, one of the 12, called the twin, "was not with them when Jesus came." Underline that verse in your Bible.
27:43-27:46
Thomas, one of the 12, called the twin, was not with them when Jesus came.
27:48-27:49
You're like, why do you want me to underline this?
27:50-27:57
Listen, Thomas, not being there the previous week, He missed Jesus and he missed the sermon.
27:59-28:02
So I say this to you on the authority of God's Word, don't miss church.
28:07-28:08
Right?
28:08-28:09
Look, Thomas missed one Sunday.
28:12-28:15
And they're like, dude, you're not going to believe what happened in church last week.
28:16-28:18
Jesus physically showed up!
28:19-28:20
Like, oh man.
28:23-28:29
Thomas was like, "But there was a stealer game early." But the Lord showed up.
28:30-28:31
All right, so don't miss church.
28:31-28:36
Verse 25, it says, "So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord.
28:37-29:16
"But he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails "and place my finger into the mark of the nails "and place my hand into his side, I will never believe." Okay, so the others, okay, so Thomas shows back up the next week He walks in and I'm sure there was the first thing out of everybody's mouth like dude last week you missed it We saw the Lord and Thomas says well. Hey unless I see him and touch him. I ain't buying it Now Thomas was being more than skeptical here Okay, Thomas was determined not to believe did you see that?
29:17-29:59
How he called the shots the evidence had to be what he determined Thomas is like here it is. Here's the deal unless I see him and touch him and he goes unless that happens I will never believe you so verse 26 says eight days later his disciples were inside again and Thomas was with them although the doors were locked some familiar is just like the previous week although the doors were locked Jesus came and stood and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands, and put out your hand and place it in my side.
29:59-30:03
Do not disbelieve, but believe." Okay, so here's the eight days later.
30:05-30:07
Again, Jesus shows up exactly like before.
30:09-30:13
This time Thomas was with the group, and Jesus obviously knew what Thomas said, right?
30:14-30:18
I mean, that's the first thing out of his mouth, like, "Hey, Thomas, by the way, you want to see?
30:18-30:22
you want to touch, here you go.
30:23-30:27
He met Thomas where he needed, touch and see.
30:30-30:39
Verse 28, Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God." Thomas replies, "Sovereignty and deity, right?
30:39-30:47
"My Lord and my God." Everything changed from that moment on for Thomas.
30:50-30:53
You know, people like to take shots at Thomas.
30:54-30:56
You know that nickname he has?
30:56-30:57
You know that nickname?
30:58-31:00
What's that thing they call Thomas?
31:00-31:01
He's got this nickname.
31:02-31:02
Have you heard it?
31:02-31:03
Have you heard the name?
31:04-31:05
Oh, okay, so you're in on that.
31:07-31:09
You're in on that cruelty to poor Tom.
31:13-31:14
Listen to me.
31:14-31:14
Look.
31:17-31:25
Thomas is with a group of people who believe because they've seen the Lord.
31:27-31:40
And Thomas is like, "I want to see too." And everybody's like, "Doubter!" All he was wanting was the same thing that everybody else already got.
31:42-31:45
So everybody just calm down on that doubting Thomas business.
31:48-31:53
Verse 29, "Jesus said to him, 'Have you believed because you have seen Me?
31:53-31:59
Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.'" Here it is.
32:00-32:07
Jesus said, "Thomas, many will never see what you saw, they're going to believe the witnesses.
32:12-32:17
Then Jesus says, "Blessed are they who believe but never got to see." And that includes us.
32:18-32:20
None of us here have ever seen Jesus.
32:22-32:25
But we have experienced Jesus.
32:26-33:15
Because of the power of the Holy Spirit, at work in His Word, believe. Don't we? Now if you take a big step away from this scene for a second and you really think about it, it seems like a bit of a long shot, doesn't it? It seems audacious, this gospel message, doesn't it? I mean we share the gospel with people. The gospel says, We believe that 2,000 years ago, this Jewish man was killed, and we believe that he rose from the dead, proving that he was God.
33:17-33:18
Now listen, there's more.
33:19-33:24
You have to believe in him and allow him to change the course of your entire life.
33:24-33:27
I mean, doesn't that seem a bit audacious in theory?
33:28-33:30
That's the gospel message?
33:30-33:33
Trust a guy you never met that lived 2,000 years ago?
33:35-33:36
Yeah, it seems audacious in theory.
33:38-33:40
But I have seen Jesus Christ heal.
33:41-33:44
I have seen Jesus Christ save marriages.
33:45-33:47
I have seen Jesus Christ give hope.
33:48-33:55
I have seen Jesus Christ totally transform lives wherever His message is proclaimed.
33:55-34:22
whether it's Shakora or Chicago or Conway or Chiang Mai this one man has changed more lives than anyone in history and he is just as active and he's just as powerful and he is moving in the world today just as he was when and He physically walked on it.
34:25-34:26
Now, I've never physically seen Him.
34:29-34:30
And neither have you.
34:32-34:43
But Jesus promised right here, those who haven't seen Him, but still believe, still come to faith in Him, He promised that we would receive a special kind of blessing.
34:46-35:19
What else is there to say that. Look at verse 30. It says, "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name." John's like, "There is a lot more that I could have said. But I wrote a thorough enough account so that you might believe in Jesus.
35:21-35:31
Notice he says there's two things you gotta believe about Jesus, though he says he's the Christ, he's the Messiah, he's the promised, anointed savior of Israel.
35:31-35:34
He goes, you have to understand that, you have to understand what that means.
35:35-35:36
That's why I wrote all of this.
35:37-35:42
He says the other thing you gotta get is that he is the son of God, he's God in the flesh.
35:42-35:48
He's not just some dude, he's not just some good teacher, not just some famous rabbi. He is God in the flesh.
35:49-35:53
You've got to believe he's the Christ, and you've got to believe he's God in the flesh.
35:53-36:10
In other words, John says, "I wrote this to get you to the point that Thomas got, where you look upon Jesus and say, 'My Lord and my God.'" John makes it very clear here that he was not writing impartial history.
36:10-36:13
John was very biased when he wrote this.
36:14-36:19
had a definite agenda in writing what he wrote, the way he wrote it.
36:19-36:37
And the agenda is, "I want you to believe." And we've spent the last three years in this church going through this book, line by line by line, understanding, seeking, studying every single word, every phrase, every teaching, every interaction, every conversation, why?
36:39-36:40
Because I want you to believe.
36:41-36:43
But this isn't just information.
36:45-36:51
And if you leave here on a Sunday morning and say, "Well, that was interesting," then I failed you.
36:52-36:57
Because John says this is information that you have to do something with.
36:58-37:03
Because doing something with this information, he says, it won't even just change your life.
37:03-37:07
He says doing something with this information will give you life.
37:08-37:15
But when you embrace Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you have life, John says, in His name.
37:16-37:19
Born again to live as God intended you to live.
37:22-37:25
Living eternally with the promise of heaven.
37:28-37:32
And living for His mission for the few days that you have on this earth.
37:33-37:34
Let's pray.
37:35-37:41
Father in heaven, I wish that I could say as much as Jesus said in three verses.
37:43-37:49
Father, we try to understand today, because this is extremely important for us as a church, Father.
37:50-38:02
To understand that Jesus left us with a mission to be empowered by the Spirit, to be dealing with sin, to make the work of the gospel the focus of what we do.
38:02-38:04
God help us, please!
38:05-38:23
deviate from that to understand who Jesus Christ is and what He accomplished, what the cross means, what the resurrection means, and it has nothing to do with trying to better society and it has everything to do with bringing dead people to life.
38:25-38:26
Father, keep us on mission.
38:27-38:28
We thank you, Father, for the blessing.
38:30-38:37
None of us here have seen Jesus, but he has deeply, profoundly affected so many of us.
38:39-38:55
Father, we thank you that even if we can't quite articulate, maybe we don't even fully understand everything that that blessing means and entails, we certainly receive it, and we certainly see the effects that it has on us and on so many.
38:56-39:01
Father, we thank you for this gospel that you wrote through John.
39:03-39:11
And John says he could have wrote a lot more and we would have been happy to preach a lot more but under inspiration this is what you wanted us to know.
39:13-39:13
So we thank you, Father.
39:15-39:27
And I pray just as John drove us to the place of you got to do something with this, I pray Father, that we would leave here under the same conviction that we have to do something with this information.
39:29-39:31
Glorify your name through Jesus Christ, we pray.

Small Group Discussion
Read John 20:19-31

What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
Explain John 20:23 in your own words. What does this say about our evangelism? Compare this with Jesus' words to Peter in Matthew 16:19.
How are people who have not seen the resurrected Christ (US), blessed, specifically (John 20:29)? How are we blessed in believing without seeing?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

I Want to Be Like God

Introduction:

I Want to Be Like God (John 1:14–18)

I Want to Belong to God

Introduction:

I Want to Belong to Jesus… (John 1:4–13)

I Want to Know God

Introduction:

I Want to Know God (John 1:1–3):

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Restoration

Introduction:

3 Things Jesus Calls Restored Failures to Do (John 21:1-25):

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Resurrection - Part 2

Introduction:

Answers from an Empty Tomb (John 20:19-31):

Two Ways We are Sent Like Jesus:

Upcoming Small Group Questions CLICK HERE

How much of the Bible have we covered since 2011?

Introduction:

I Want to Be Like God (John 1:14–18)

AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

Introduction:

I Want to Belong to Jesus… (John 1:4–13)

AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

Introduction:

I Want to Know God (John 1:1–3):

AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

Introduction:

3 Things Jesus Calls Restored Failures to Do (John 21:1-25):

Audio Transcript

Introduction:

Answers from an Empty Tomb (John 20:19-31):

Two Ways We are Sent Like Jesus:

Audio Transcript